Heccubus
by jessara40k
Summary: Atemu won the ceremonial duel, but he wasn't rewarded with his own body. When Bakura comes up with a spell to grant the two spirits their own bodies it is revealed that he was never human, and everyone wants him in their bed. Eventual tendershipping with
1. Chapter 1

I wished that the others trusted my yami a bit more. If they weren't so insistent that he wasn't allowed to take over my body for these research sessions _I_ wouldn't have to try and keep up with and convey all the esoterica he brings into the question. And if they'd _listened_ to what he'd said at times they wouldn't have wasted time exploring ideas that we _told_ them wouldn't work. But Isis only ever listens to Atemu, and he never seems to listen to anyone but - very rarely - Yugi, especially since the ceremonial duel where by his victory he condemned himself and Bakura to share our bodies. The things I've dreamed of doing to those two sometimes...

And Yami insists that if Atemu just let him cast _one_ spell on the Puzzle he could find a spell that would work inside of a week at most. I shook my head, dismissing that line of thought as I made my way through the Game Shop. Yugi had phoned me, sounding all excited about a spell that Isis and Malik had found together. Atemu thought it was what we needed to give the yamis their own bodies. Bakura wasn't so optimistic, his opinion of Isis' intelligence had gone down over the last four months, and he'd _never_ thought much of Atemu's intelligence.

"You're all certain that I can't just let Bakura take over?" My now customary complaint. I _knew_ what everyone thought, that my yami abused me and was trying to bully me into letting him do this, but they were wrong. He hadn't, the worst he'd ever done to me was harangue me over my refusal to fight for myself, and even then I'd felt a weird undercurrent of concern and almost fear for me. He also hadn't even _asked_ me to try and get the others to deal with him directly, just to cast a spell he'd taught me when I was worried about failing Biology five years ago that would transfer the information in the books to the Ring on all the research materials we were using. I waited for them all to insist that Bakura had to let me paraphrase his words before continuing.

"I heard you and Malik found a spell you think will work Isis?"

"No, we found _two_ spells. I found mine in one of the books your yami said was useless, but I think it's the better choice, since you'll be able to cast it by yourself."

-The closest thing to what we need would be...say she found and misunderstood a physical manifestation spell or something not...- Whatever Bakura was thinking of it had to be bad.

"Can we see that one first then?" Shock, horror and a weird sort of resignation came from Bakura when he read it through me.

:What's wrong with this spell Bakura:

-You'd find it immoral, probably evil. The Pharaoh _can't_ understand what this means, or they wouldn't be so happy. Check the other one?- He finished on a note of slightly more hope: _Malik_ had listened to him when he'd advised them to turn away from some avenues of research.

"Malik, can I see your idea too? Bakura says I'll think this spell is evil when he explains it."

-This one...might work for the Pharaoh, possibly, but it would kill me, and probably destroy _his_ ability to use Shadow Magic after a while.-

"Yami sees problems with both of the spells. He can explain it." And I twisted my mind, forcing him into control.

"Tomb robber! Return Ryou's body to him!" Atemu should know not to try and give commands to Bakura by now.

"Why? So you can force him to try and convey things he doesn't understand?" Bakura snarled and for once I was in full agreement with him. "He's tired of playing the interpreter between us." And now he used my own words. "Let me explain the problems with each of your suggestions. He laid the two spells out in front of him.

"This one," pointing to Isis' spell, "is intended to create ensouled construct-slaves. The first and longer part, to here," nearly three quarters of the spell, "is to create the construct's body, the rest is designed to draw an entrapped soul out of its previous container, and into the construct body. All well and good, but woven into the spell, so seamlessly and subtly that I don't think even your Dark Magician could remove it without destroying the spell, are threads of compulsion and control that would make any soul housed in such a body nothing but the slave of the one who created it. For instance here, the spell strips the occupying soul of the very concept of freedom, as applied to that soul."

"No wonder you told Ryou he'd think it was evil. It is." I agreed fully with Malik's opinion, despite the strange and subtle hinting in Bakura's mind that he'd accept a body like that if I asked him to. "What's wrong with my spell? It'll make a copy of your hikari's body for you won't it?"

"Yes, an exact copy. That includes fingerprints and retinal patterns, meaning no legal identity for us, and my soul is deeply incompatible with Ryou's body - the only reason I can use it is because his soul remains present in it, even when I take over." I hadn't known about that. "And Atemu...Yugi's Shadow Magic isn't as powerful as yours...I'd say perhaps three quarters as powerful. You should already know that, from using his body, but it means that you wouldn't have access to the same power you had back in Egypt if your body was a copy of his."

"What does he mean?" Atemu was displaying his ignorance, looking to Isis for answers - when she remained silent Bakura expanded on his words.

"Two things determine the amount of Shadow Magic someone can draw, first the nature of their soul, and secondly the capacity of their body to channel it. Unnatural colouring - like our hair and eyes - is often a mark of really high levels of Shadow Magic."

:Our hair and eyes: I had to know what he meant.

-Red eyes are only natural in albinos, and metallic eyes and hair aren't natural in anything at all.- He was referring to his and Atemu's old form, but...

"I thought the reason I understood Shadow Magic better than you was that the Puzzle tortured your memories away from you, and I spent my time in the Ring studying Shadow Magic, but it isn't that, is it?" Wonder edged his voice at that idea.

00()00

"You can't really believe you understand Shadow Magic better than I do!" Atemu sounded outraged, amusingly outraged, and I just smiled at him, inciting him to further anger.

:Metallic eyes and hair? And what about _my_ colouring:

"Well, you could always play a Shadow Game with me to find out. I learned almost nothing about Shadow Magic from the time your father's soldiers committed genocide," And it had been genocide, even if no one had ever thought of it that way, genocide and worse than genocide. "until I was sealed into the Ring. The rules are thus...you have five chances to name one thing I learned of Shadow Magic in that time period. I must either call a Shadow Monster to witness when I learned what you named, or allow you to use Change of Heart to ask one question to prove when I learned it. Should you ask an additional question while I am under Change of Heart's influence you will spend a day trapped in the Puzzle as penalty." He went pale at that thought, not that I really blamed him. Something occurred to me then, a way he could get around that if I didn't spell it out. "Should you choose to ask a question that cannot prove when I learned to use Shadow Magic in such a way you will suffer the same penalty as for asking additional questions, and it will be taken as given that I did not learn it during the period in question. When I win you will allow me to copy the information on Shadow Magic from your Puzzle and use it to design a spell that will give us our own forms back and cast the same spell on the Puzzle that I cast on the Ring the first time I used Yadonushi's body - after you've paid off any penalties you've earned. In the event that you win I won't demand any more input into the choice of spells used to grant us physical form." That idea was terrifying, the thought of trusting myself to his abilities...but I couldn't think of anything else suitable to offer. "Are these terms acceptable?"

-Originally my eyes and hair were both metallic silver. Your colouring is a bit more natural, but still white hair does _not_ normally appear in conjunction with brown eyes.- I didn't mention the other inhuman things about him even while he was denying what he was with all his will...the fingernails that he regularly broke his nail clippers on and that grew into claws left to themselves or the fangs and sharp incisors that his father had paid a dentist an obscene amount of money to file down. He'd hidden in his soulroom, leaving me in control during that, and then forgotten it had ever happened.

"When I win you'll let me use the spell Isis found to give you physical form, and swear never to try to take the Millennium Items again."

"No, but I'll let _Ryou_ cast it, or remain a passenger in his body for eternity and allow you to cast a spell that prevents me taking control against his will."

:I _won't_ do that to you.:

-You won't have to. I only learned _two_ things about Shadow Magic during the period in question.-

"Agreed." I pulled Change of Heart out of Ryou's deck and handed it to the Pharaoh.

"Remember to give that back to us afterwards." I smiled, letting him know how confident I felt. "What is your first guess?"

"You learned how to summon Shadow Monsters by spying on my lessons."

"Stern Mystic." The elderly looking Shadow Monster appeared without any fanfare.

"Little Scholar, is your Light having trouble at school again? Or moving to a different country?"

"No." I knew I was blushing faintly as I replied, but it didn't matter now. "I need you to tell these people about the first time I summoned you. He wasn't the first Shadow Monster I summoned, but the earlier ones can't speak in a way we can understand."

"As you wish. I expected to find what I always found when I was summoned to Kuru Eruna, my summoner prostrate with exhaustion and another man standing by to explain what emergency needed my knowledge. What I actually found was the most beautiful two year old I've ever seen, asking me to teach him how to read and write."

"Thank you, you may go." I turned my attention back to the others answering Malik's unspoken questions. "The few who were literate in my village had more important things to do than to teach me to be likewise, but it was considered vital that I be as accomplished as possible." I fingered my Ring thinking about _why_ I'd needed to be accomplished. "Next idea Atemu."

"You learned how to use the Millennium Ring before you were sealed into it." He'd wasted another guess as I'd hoped.

"Hell no! Use Change of Heart." He summoned the Shadow Monster and took control of me as specified, then he asked his question.

"When did you learn how to use the Millennium Items?"

"After I was trapped within one of the cursed things." He released me, eyes as wide as Yugi's with his shock.

"If you think they're cursed why did you want to collect them?"

"I didn't...well, in Egypt I did, so I could destroy them. But since I came out of the Ring I only wanted to get my hands on each of them long enough to cast that spell I mentioned earlier. And no, I won't tell you what it is. You thought it was 'the rantings of a crazed peasant' back in Egypt, so you don't deserve to know."

:Yami: Ryou protested and I threw the memory in question at him angrily.

"Next idea."

"The only way you could have learned to cast true Shadow Magic spells was by spying on my priests after Kuru Eruna was destroyed."

"Lady of Faith." I blushed again as she appeared. "She was the strongest spellcasting Shadow Monster we had a focal object for. Lady of Faith, tell these people about the first time I summoned you, please." I smiled at her, letting her see how beautiful I found her.

"I was summoned to Kuru Eruna and I found Stern Mystic there with his hand on the shoulder of the three year old boy who'd summoned me. Stern Mystic said that I'd be a better choice to teach him spellcraft, and asked if I would. I tried to tailor my spells to the ones he was interested in." A faint frown of disapproval from me prompted her to stop there, and I dismissed her.

00()00

I was horrified by the way Atemu had so thoughtlessly rejected my yami's plea to at least _try_ to find a way to free the souls trapped in the Millennium Items. Especially since his memory had included a bit of what he'd had to _do_ to get that audience so soon after Atemu took his father's throne. No wonder he'd accepted the 'help' Zork offered and desecrated the bastard's father's body in revenge. I'd never seen Bakura _beg_ for anything before; he must have learned that there was no point to it, because it wouldn't get him what he needed. He had every reason to hate Atemu, and to want the Millennium Items...I'd never understood that, or even tried to. And the way I pretended he wasn't real while taking everything he offered to me...I was just surprised he didn't hate me.

I pulled myself out of my guilty thoughts and focused on what was happening in Bakura's game.

"You didn't learn how to summon Diabound until after Kuru Eruna was destroyed."

"You had to _learn_ how to summon your ka-beast? Call Change of Heart, ask me why I summoned Diabound when I was a child."

Atemu obeyed, I suspected he was afraid that if he didn't ask the question Bakura suggested he wouldn't get the answer he needed, but he still didn't phrase it _quite_ the way Bakura did. Still, I wondered...

:Would he be tortured while he was in the Puzzle under the terms of your Penalty Game:

"Why did you summon your ka-beast before your village was destroyed?"

-Yes. He'd be tortured every time the souls trapped in the Puzzle had the chance to, because of what he did in the memory I just showed you. That memory's the reason _I_ wasn't tortured when I was inside the Ring.-

"As a playmate. The other children wouldn't play with me...children are sensitive to anything weird, and I was kept very busy...studying." As he finished the explanation he swept his hand through his hair in a way that I _knew_ was provocative, very much so. After I'd agreed to remember the 'harmless' memories from when he'd taken my body over one such memory was of him studying himself in a mirror, and checking out the effects of various mannerisms...funny when I look back on it. His words had brought back some unpleasant memories of my own childhood too...none of the other children would play with _me_ either, until I got into RPG, and introduced them to Monster World. I sometimes wondered how much of the other children enjoying Monster World was their natural inclination, and how much was something Bakura'd found a way to influence them into enjoying. But I'd never asked, or wanted to know. I watched the way everyone reacted to my yami from behind his eyes, I could tell they were all lusting after him. Once I'd asked him why he'd never taken any of the men or women who'd shown an interest in him up on their offers...he'd explained that since it was my body he didn't have the right to have sex in it...to fight and kill in it, but not to have sex. I never did understand that.

Change of Heart had released him while I was musing, obviously. "Last guess now Pharaoh."

"You didn't learn how to move to the Shadow Realm until you spied on my lessons."

"Celtic Guardian." He glanced flirtatiously at the newly summoned Shadow Monster, another mannerism I'd seen him practise. "Tell these people about the lessons you gave me...how they started, where they took place, and how I got there."

"The Lady of Faith turned up at my...dojo I think you'd call it. She had a four year old kid beside her who probably got more propositions than the Pharaoh did. She introduced him as her pupil of a year, and asked me to teach him how to fight without magic, since his elders weren't happy with his abilities in Shadow Magic. I don't know why not...he was getting to his lessons by himself within a month."

"Some of them thought I should be learning spells of a different inclination." I could feel the sensual shrug Yami made as he spoke. "You remember the difficulties I had in training with you as well. Thank you, though. You can leave now."

"What some of your elders thought you shouldn't be using such dangerous spells as you favour?"

"Actually, Pharaoh, no. They thought I should be learning spells for fighting, rather than illusions and spells affecting emotions. The two answers that would have won you the game were either; how to use Shadow Magic offensively, or how to work around Shadow Magic wards...such as the one that kept me from summoning Diabound without the permission of one of five adults. That was put on me, and tied to me and my own magic, both types, with my scar. But really, you should have thought of the first answer by yourself, if you weren't blinded by your assumptions about me." Venom laced his every word, and for once I agreed with him. I mean...if he could summon Shadow Monsters and cast other forms of Shadow Magic spell, as well as summon Diabound _before_ Kuru Eruna was destroyed why wouldn't he have fought in her defence unless he couldn't use Shadow Magic as a weapon for some reason. "Now, your Puzzle please?"

Atemu handed it over reluctantly, he'd agreed to the terms, but he'd never expected to have to fulfil them, I could tell that. Idiot...I knew for a fact that Bakura'd saved his precious Yugi at least twice, and half the time when he lost to Atemu it was because the Pharaoh had an unfair advantage - or because _I'd_ interfered. The first spell my yami cast was very similar to the one I'd been casting on my textbooks for the past five years without knowing why. The second one felt almost holy. And the Puzzle didn't feel as...evil as it always had before. I'd never quite got why Yugi insisted Atemu was so very good and Bakura was evil when _his_ Item felt evil, while mine felt pure, not quite good, but neutral at least.

"I'll give you details of the spell when I've come up with it." With those words Bakura retreated into the Ring, leaving it to me to reassure the others. Or not, considering how hostile they were to him. I decided to simply leave.

"Don't keep wasting your time. We should have done this from the start - except you're too much of a control freak, and Isis is too brainwashed to object to your stupidity Atemu."

00()00

There wasn't the right spell in the stuff I got from the Puzzle, but there was enough for me to come up with something that'd work, and another spell that just made me even more contemptuous of Atemu. I figured there was no way he'd have thought about how to _get_ legal IDs for us, so I came up with a nice cover story for the both of us and inveigled Kaiba into meeting with us to work out the details.

"What do you want Bakura?"

"I've got a plan to get us legal IDs when we get our own bodies, but I need to know if your tech can do what I think it can. For Atemu's ID anyway. The cover story I've got planned for myself doesn't need any help." We were in Ryou's house, since anything public would have been too risky.

"I'm still not convinced...what do you want me to help with?" The Priest still didn't entirely believe that there even were two souls in our bodies.

"Pharaoh, that spell I sent you almost a week ago, cast it now." When he hesitated I told him what he would want to hear. "It won't work right for me. It was designed for the use of the Pharaoh," not that that would keep it from working for any other human, "and there's a number of assumptions that won't work right for me. I sent you the version with a determined duration, about an hour."

"Very well Tomb Robber." He cast the spell, and Yugi staggered as he appeared in front of us dressed in the full regalia that seemed to be so important to him. I grabbed onto the midget to steady him - the idiot hadn't thought to warn him about casting the spell of course.

"I figured he could pass as your half-uncle, or half-cousin. Raised in the Egyptian slums without any paperwork, but with a bit more security than most because your grandfather left the Egyptian woman who carried his child with enough money to set up a small business of some sort, or to act as enough of a dowry to get a man to marry her even though she'd been defiled." I turned to Kaiba then. "Details can come later, but given a Polaroid can your technology make a copy suitable for a passport?"

"Yes...I think that should be possible..." The CEO was obviously thinking about just _how_ it would be possible. It sounded as if I'd offered him a technical challenge.

"Good. Atemu, we'll go to Egypt through the Shadow Realm to get that Polaroid. It'll work if you're just wearing your kilt, none of the jewellery, time _is_ limited. I think realism will be satisfied if we just get the passport sent to a holding address in Egypt and pick it up after we get our own bodies. Then pay for a plane ticket here in cash - that or have a flight booked for you and a ticket held at the airport for you."

"I don't think we can afford that...can we aibou?" After all the Duel Monsters tournaments they'd won? Didn't they have any financial sense?

"It doesn't matter. I make a lot of money by using Shadow Magic to remove scars." I'd take them at their word. "You can take one of my clients, it will more than pay for the plane ticket."

"How much do you charge?" Kaiba's voice was detached, but I could tell he had a personal reason for wanting to know.

"It varies, depending on a lot of things. How old the scar is, how extensive, whether or not I'll have to work on them again, how far I have to travel to heal them...all sorts of things factor into it." Including whether I had sympathy for them. "This woman has an abusive husband, but one who gives her plenty of money. She pays a million Yen to keep the injuries he gives her from scarring - they're always bad enough to scar as well." Neither of the Game Kings understood why she'd stay, that was obvious. But Kaiba did.

"What hold does he have on her?"

"The usual; family. Mother's dead, her little sister's so disabled she needs constant care. This lets her father work, and she's sort of saving up for when the bastard gets tired of her. She's lasted a lot longer than most."

"Because of what you do for her?" It wasn't really a question, but I answered it anyway.

"It helps that I keep her looking good for the bastard, but more importantly she's smart enough to play games with him. He thinks what I do for her's an expensive day spa for example, and she's siphoning money off to invest." Not that I was going to mention how I'd advised her in ways to appease him, keep his interest and invest her money.

"Smart of her." While Kaiba obviously approved the other two seemed rather dubious about the idea.

"Whatever her morals it would be wrong to refuse her help on that basis. I agree - provided _Ryou_ is the one to introduce me to her. He does know about this?"

-Do you mind Yadonushi-sama?-

:Go ahead and appease his suspicions.:

"Yes, and he approves a lot. Now, I think we could use some artful damage to that kilt. Yugi, could you go and get some dirt, there's a basket just inside the door, half fill that please. I'll lend you a robe while I sort out the kilt, and you can smear some of the dirt onto your body Atemu. Well, move!" They obeyed eventually, I used spells, a touch of bleach and some of the dirt Yugi had collected to make Atemu's kilt appear old and worn and he smeared the rest on his body and into his hair.

We went to Egypt through the Shadow Realm, and I took a Polaroid of him before his manifestation dissolved and he returned to Yugi's body. Kaiba took the photo, and the holding address I'd given him.

"I'll contact you when the photo's ready."

"No, just send it to the Mutous, they're the ones who have to arrange for the passport."

00()00


	2. Chapter 2

I sighed in exasperation at Atemu's patent distrust of my yami when he arrived to treat Chihiro-san. If he hadn't been so distrustful I wouldn't have to deal with her - and I didn't like her, admired her courage and devotion to her family, but I didn't like her, and I couldn't give her the sort of advice that Bakura could. I didn't really want to know how he'd learned those things either.

"Atemu." I didn't bother to invite him in verbally, and he ignored that little fact to walk in when I stepped aside from the door. "When our client gets here you _will_ be polite, and you will not show any disdain for her based on her choices."

"Tomb robber, I told you that _Ryou_ had to introduce me to this 'client' of yours. Let him out." His contempt for what Chihiro had to do to protect her sister showed in his voice, and his assumptions stung.

"Do you really think that anytime I show a spine it takes Bakura possessing me?" Images of how easy it would be to break his body into little pieces filled my head, and only the thought that Yugi would be hurt as well stopped me from acting on them. The sense of almost admiration and approval I got from Bakura at the images didn't help me stop, but reminding myself that Chihiro would be arriving soon did. "And I hope you have the brains not to betray your nature to her - although if you don't I expect Yugi does." For once I didn't care about being accepted, or about how dangerous Yami could be - besides considering how much I'd been denying to _be_ accepted, even to the extent they offered...

"Y-you-" I cut Atemu off before he could stammer anything else.

"I hope you studied the spell Bakura sent you?"

-If he didn't then I'm sure you are more than capable of casting it Yadonushi-sama, should you wish it. You remember watching me cast it often enough.- On humans and demons, but that wasn't the same.

:Maybe, but I haven't studied it, and isn't the point of this for him to earn the money for that plane ticket:

"Yes. I studied it." Atemu's voice seethed with barely controlled anger and I smiled at that.

-Of course it is Yadonushi-sama, I forgot.- I didn't believe that for a second, but it didn't matter; Chihiro was arriving and we didn't have time to talk any more.

"Hello Chihiro-san."

"Hello Bakura-san. And who is this?" I knew that normally Bakura met her alone, she was rightfully paranoid about the idea of anyone knowing about this.

"Atemu. He has his own secrets, and he doesn't know enough to be a danger to you." She never appeared in the news or in public really, and I had the feeling that the name she used with us wasn't her real name. "I...can't heal you the way I normally do, because the spirit who _gives_ me these powers is switching hosts. Atemu's spirit is still with him, and can perform the same spells."

"But he can't give me the same advice, can he? And neither can you."

-Does she need more advice?-

"No, I'm afraid not. Do you _need_ it at the moment?"

"No." She laughed, a touch of bitterness in her voice. "My stocks are doing great at the moment, and I've got enough time to do all the research I need for that, even if my husband expects me to be nothing but his trophy. And I've got him distracted pretty well for now, he loves that position you suggested last time." I still couldn't believe the detail with which Yami'd explained the rather demeaning methods she could use to keep her husband's attention on her skills in bed, and _off_ what she was doing with the money he gave her. And he'd seemed to empathise with the way she felt as if she was whoring herself out, and suggested an alternative way for her to think of it. I grew up in England until I was fourteen, even though I learned Japanese at home I certainly couldn't have pulled out the legends of geisha that he did.

"I'm glad. How long has it been since the oldest injury that worries you?"

"Five weeks this time." I still couldn't believe she got away with spending a million yen every two months on a 'beauty spa' and her husband didn't care. I'd led them through to the room Bakura'd set up for this while we talked, and she began to strip off showing absolutely no sense of modesty. Not that she needed to with her body. Sometimes...I could understand some of what her husband did to her, when the marks were obviously from being fucked roughly, but not when I saw marks like these, marks from a whip, and from whatever he'd used to tie her in place.

-That's because you're not really a sadist, he is. Wanting to be rough in bed isn't the same as being a sadist.- I let Yami watch through me as Atemu ran his hands over Chihiro's injuries to heal them. There was something different about the way he touched her body, when compared to the comforting, yet purely platonic way Yami touched her. Atemu seemed to hurt her when he touched her, and he looked as if he was almost enjoying it. One I could call clumsiness, but the other...

:Is _he_ a sadist Yami:

-A bit of one, yes. The Penalty Games he inflicted when Yugi first released him should have made that clear.- I knew why my Yami was saddened so much by that; everyone had ignored the evil things Atemu'd done, and made allowances for him and assumed that whenever Bakura was doing something good he had an ulterior motive.

"I _hope_ you, or your spirit's new host will be able to do this for me next time." Chihiro's voice was acid as she wrote out the check.

"Of course Chihiro-san." Once she'd left I turned to Atemu angrily. "Get out! We'll filter your payment into whichever bank account you care to name, but I don't want to see you at the moment." He seemed taken aback, but he obeyed at least.

00()00

It was five weeks after Atemu had used the spell I gave him to heal Chihiro that the imp I'd set to keep the safehouse I'd revealed to the Pharaoh in Egypt secure told me that his passport had arrived. Luckily the Ishtars didn't have to move on with the museum exhibit Isis had care of for another month, especially since the spell I'd sent out required an additional spellcaster for each pair. We'd be working with Malik, and the Pharaoh and his midget would work with Isis. Since we'd already negotiated most of the details about where we were going to perform the spell, and with what sort of audience it only took a day to get everything, and everybody together. Hopefully Pharaoh no baka and the little Game King had practised switching places and would still be able to maintain the spell, the way I could with Yadonushi-sama. We'd have a little leeway in switching casters, but not much, and if the switch was fumbled too badly there would be damage to our souls.

I let Ryou get to Kaiba's mansion himself - besides he needed to be the one who started casting the spell, another reason I hoped Yugi had at least a little experience with using Shadow Magic himself, even if it wasn't likely considering how reluctant Atemu was to let him fight his own battles.

_Why_ he'd decided we should do this in his duelling arena was beyond me, but it gave us plenty of space to work in, and somehow I couldn't bring myself to be surprised that the Pharaoh'd decided to bring all of his groupies to watch.

"Atemu. I know my yami _told_ you that Yugi had to be the one to perform the first part of this spell."

"But...aibou doesn't have any experience in using Shadow Magic. How can you ask him to perform a spell of this complexity?"

"He has no experience because you never let him get any. And I can ask him to perform this spell because he's the smart one. You _did_ bother to teach him his part of the spell, didn't you?" I was so proud, I hadn't even had to prompt Ryou at all to get him to reprimand Atemu so well. "No, don't even bother trying to answer me. I can't trust you to tell me what I need to know. Let Yugi take over. _Now_." When Atemu didn't obey Ryou used another spell I'd found in the Millennium Puzzle, a reason to be grateful for Atemu's terrible relationship with it, to force Atemu out of control of the body he was using. It only worked because he wasn't the original spirit, but Yugi _would_ be able to let him take over later.

"What did you just do Ryou?" Yugi sounded so confused. If the Pharaoh _hadn't_ taught him what he needed to know then as far as I was concerned he'd just screwed up his chance at getting a body now.

-Yadonushi-sama,- Ryou probably thought it was false respect, but it wasn't, it never had been, -if Yugi doesn't have his part of the spell down cold then they can't try it. I...the only way I could design this spell required incredible risks. I told you about them, right?-

:You said it could tear our souls apart if we screwed it up, right:

-Yes. I know _you_ won't, but with Pharaoh no baka's attitude...-

:He might have decided he didn't _need_ Yugi to cast his parts.: Disgust edged Ryou's mental voice, and I was glad of it. "I needed to talk to you, so I used a spell Yami taught me that pushes a possessing spirit out of control for a while."

"A spell mou hitori no boku taught _you_? But why didn't he use it on Bakura? And why not teach me?"

"No, Yugi, it wasn't something Atemu taught me, he was too ignorant to find it, it was something _my_ yami taught me. I needed to talk to you about the spell we're going to be casting today. The idiot did bother to teach you how to cast the spell to get him a new body then?" _I_ wouldn't have wasted my time badmouthing the Pharaoh to his ever so loyal hikari, but Yugi looked suspicious anyway.

"Bakura, are you pretending to be Ryou again?"

"Not you too." I could feel my host rolling his eyes in exasperation. "I can be nasty about people without Bakura pushing me to be. I just repress an awful lot. I thought we were good enough friends that I didn't _have_ to with you anymore." That was impressively manipulative. "But you didn't answer my question."

"Yes, mou hitori no boku taught me the spell, but he said he could cast it for me, that I wouldn't need to know it. He was just indulging your paranoia."

"My yami _invented_ that spell, I think he knows more about it than some overbred brat who uses Shadow Magic almost by rote. If you two screw the spell up you'll damage your souls, and that's something you can't heal from. Forget it. You're not casting the spell today." I liked hearing that, but...

-Yadonushi-sama, explain to him exactly what he needs to do, and where the cut-off points are, please. I didn't mention it, but if they screwed the spell up _Yugi_ would be damaged more, then ask if he feels up to switching with the necessary precision. I made the leeway as great as I could...-

"Yami wants me to explain to you exactly what to do, and see if you feel up to it. Atemu would come through a failed attempt almost intact, _you'd_ be the one to suffer. Now, listen to me, and make sure your parasite's listening too." Was that how he thought of me? I thought my help had been enough to repay him at least in part. He explained how the pair would need to work together to cast the spell in excruciating detail, the sort you'd use with an idiot and then Yugi asked for some time to think it over.

-Yadonushi-sama, do you think of me as a parasite?-

:No, you're a symbiote, I remember how weak I was before I received the Ring.:

-And unless you stop repressing you'll get weak again.- I didn't like that idea.

:I know, but...:

"We'll do it." Yugi interrupted us, and I had to admit I was relieved.

00()00

When Yami'd finished the spell - our part anyway - all I felt for a few moments was pain, pain enough to make me scream as nothing had before. I knew that all my friends thought Bakura abused me, for some reason, ignoring me when I said he didn't, but they'd never realised when I'd been seriously hurt because of just how hard it was to hurt me enough for me to react. And I always healed incredibly quickly, although I suspected Yami had a hand in that, especially after I agreed to remember how he made a lot of his money. But I stopped screaming when it stopped hurting, and I could feel my body again - and hear two other people screaming.

I looked around, and saw Yugi's friends all gathered around him and Atemu where they were lying curled up on the ground, screaming, Honda seemed to be looking at me accusingly, just because I wasn't screaming. But he wasn't important, not compared to the sight of my yami in the flesh. He was exquisite, the metallic silver hair and eyes looked right on him, even if they would seem unnatural in anyone else it worked well with his pearlescent white skin. But he didn't look at all like my friends had described him in Memory World, instead he looked like a version of me who'd been transformed and refined to perfect beauty, the only thing they'd recognise would be the scar on his right cheek. I had to see what that hair felt like, but when I lifted my hand I saw _claws_.

"What happened to my hand? And my teeth!" I could feel the fangs catching on my lip, might as well ask all the questions at once. "And why are they still screaming, it's stopped hurting."

"To answer your last question first, while the human nervous system is usually efficient for carrying the start of pain to the brain, it is slower to recognise when there is no further cause. They are still hurting, as we are not. As to your appearance Yadonushi-sama, I told you that the spell would destroy your body and build for the both of us a new body based on the shape our souls require to be housed in. If you would be rid of them think of how they will make you stand out, and how that is undesirable as it makes you an obvious target, then will the change to occur. But it will tire you a bit." I didn't care, I obeyed, staggering a bit as Malik and Kaiba watched - both focused almost exclusively on my yami.

:Wish they'd stop that. I'm getting a headache.: But I wasn't going to say that out loud. Yami sighed at that, and looked at me for a moment, then nodded and walked over to the group.

"I know a spell that functions as a painkiller, if you'll allow it. I've used it on myself after a fight, back in Egypt." Isis didn't seem to believe him, but Atemu apparently heard and stopped screaming long enough to speak.

"Let him. He wants to kill me won't _hurt_."

"But you're the test subject I take it." Bakura laughed, and cast the spell. Atemu stopped screaming, but he grabbed hold of Yami's arm.

"Tomb Robber? What?"

"Let me take care of the midget, then we can talk." Atemu must have conceded because Yami cast the spell that stopped Yugi screaming as well. "Now, what was it you wanted to say?" Bakura was standing, left hand on his hip, the other hanging loosely at his side, head tilted to the left, and Ryou knew there'd be a teasing smile on his lips, from seeing it in the mirror when Bakura'd practised this pose with his body.

"You didn't look like that in Egypt."

"No, I didn't. I'm not human, I'm a shapeshifter, and all I really remember about my original form is my colouring, and this scar. Our new bodies were formed from the image our souls held of them, and the image my soul holds of my body is amorphous save for the two things I mentioned, so the rest was taken from Yadonushi-sama's form. For my plan to get my own legal ID to work I need white hair, like his, but I think grey eyes will work." As he spoke he turned away from Atemu, running a hand through his hair and turning it white like mine, and closing his eyes briefly as he walked over to me. When his skin changed colour, to a shade just a bit lighter than Atemu's, but with a different quality I couldn't understand, I realised how much of it was exposed...he was only wearing a short linen kilt, while Atemu was wearing the full regalia of a Pharaoh.

"You don't remember what you looked like in Egypt?"

"No, I said I don't remember my original form. The form I used to rob tombs was designed for strength, among other things. And that silver hair was so eye-catching that no one recognised me when I turned my hair black."

"Oh." Atemu was speechless, and I realised everyone was staring at _my_ yami in lust. I could understand their lust, but...

"If you aren't human what are you?" Kaiba interrupted my musings. He was watching Bakura like a cat with a mouse, strange as it seemed to imagine my yami as prey.

"I'm a heccubus." He shrugged, casually and gracefully, ignoring the way everyone reacted to him.

"You're a sex demon? Somehow that isn't the surprise it should be." Malik leered at Yami, and he cast a sidelong glance at him. "Wanna feed on me?"

"I'd kill a human if I bedded them too often. But I'd really prefer having a bunch of regular lovers to just whoring around."

"How good are you in bed Tomb Robber?"

"Better than any human could be." Yami seemed to ignore the effect that had. "Yadonushi-sama, you do understand that _you_ can't lie with me, even once, not considering..."

"I know." I smiled at him reassuringly. "I'm going to start getting weak again, aren't I?"

"I'll do what I can, but yes. The rest of you, if you want me then decide a schedule among yourselves. You can't afford to bed me more than once every two weeks, and I'd prefer Pharaoh no baka and the Priest a week apart, with Yugi or Anzu following them, if they want to get involved."

"Hey, no fair, I'll be leaving for Egypt in a month."

"You can have me twice a week until then, outside the schedule. And I'll be going to Egypt in five weeks anyway. Atemu, I'll show you where your passport was sent. I'll meet you at home Yadonushi-sama."

00()00

I didn't know how the Priest managed to get me first, even before Malik, but then I didn't care either. He was treating me a bit like a woman, taking me out for a meal - steak tatare with some very chocolaty dessert - followed by a movie, a horror about demons. Then, when we got back to his mansion he took me up to his bedroom and fucked me, being more careful not to let me see his body than he was not to hurt me. Not that it really mattered, I healed near instantly from the damage he did, but it illustrated just how sensitive he was about his appearance. Now I was even more convinced that he hid scars of some sort underneath his skin concealing clothes, probably pretty severe scars at that. I'd first suspected it when he asked me how much I charged to remove scars - and if the scars hadn't been bad he'd probably have been able to have them dealt with using plastic surgery.

"Why did you bother with dinner and a movie?" I asked the question while I still lay on my stomach, pressing my face into the sheets to give him time to cover himself again.

"Mokuba said that's what you're supposed to do when you're on a date." He'd asked his little brother what to do with me? Or Mokuba had found out about the Priest taking me today and offered the advice? I didn't know how to respond. It was either really cute, or really sad...probably both. The Priest didn't have the faintest idea of how to act in most situations, and I knew I needed to redefine this in terms he was more comfortable with, or he'd keep treating me with the indifference he was using now.

"But this isn't really a date. It's a business deal more than anything else. You wanted me in your bed, and I need the energy I get by bedding you. The other stuff was nice, but you were under no obligation to do those things with me."

"You make it sound like you're a whore." Seto sounded offended, so I didn't let him know how much his behaviour was making me feel like one with his lack of trust, or mention that I didn't have a choice but to take lovers, since I was too scared of ending up like Ryou.

"Not quite. I'm not expecting money or anything, I'd appreciate it if some sort of emotional connection formed, but I'm not stupid enough to expect I can get that from everyone I feed on." I shrugged, still hiding my face and letting him hide his body. If I couldn't get at least a degree of understanding from the people I fed from on a regular basis it wouldn't be any more healthy for me emotionally than the many faceless men I'd slept with back in Egypt. It was fine back then, but in this age of STDs casual sex was a pretty bad idea, not that I could catch anything like that, but if I bedded someone clean, without protection, too soon after I'd bedded someone infected any STD could all too easily be passed on through me. And Ryou was unlikely to approve of my acting like a slut and sleeping around too much.

"Then if you want to talk business I have a proposition for you. Get up and look at me." I obeyed, surprised to realise he was still shirtless and focused on the scars I'd deduced were there, with the dispassion I always used when I was dealing with those who came to me for healing. "Why were you hiding your face anyway?"

"You didn't want me to see you naked." He seemed taken aback...but it had seemed like simple courtesy to me. "You don't want people to know about your scars, do you? And I can take it they aren't on record anywhere?"

"No, and I want you to get rid of them for me. You can from what you said when you were plotting to get Atemu a legal ID. If you do then I'll pay for you and Ryou to go to whatever university you want, for up to twelve years, as long as you get good enough grades. Is that acceptable?" I had enough money in the back to pay for university for the both of us without this offer, but...

"Define what you mean when you say you'll pay for us to go to university."

"I'll pay your tuition, for wherever you two want to live, including all the utilities bills, I'll supply you with a car to share and I'll have an allowance paid into a bank account for you to use for groceries and anything else you need for your courses." It was a generous enough offer, even if it probably wouldn't come to what I'd normally charge for such extensive scarring, but I couldn't accept it without consulting Ryou.

-Yadonushi-sama?-

:What is it Bakura:

-The Priest offered to put us through university if I fixed his scars. How do you feel about that?-

:It's up to you, but it would be nice of you to do that for him.: That was enough approval for me to agree to the Priest's terms...or close enough anyway.

"Yadonushi-sama will be getting ill soon, will you also provide any medical treatment he needs? My healing won't be enough for him."

"Yes. We have a deal then?"

"It will take more than one session to heal your injuries, but yes. Come here so that I can examine them properly, and tell me what you thought I could take at university." He obeyed, and hesitantly lay down on his back when I patted the bed. "I need to touch you to inspect the scarring properly." It was only fair to warn him considering how he usually reacted to being touched. When I began to inspect him with all of my senses he answered my question.

"I thought perhaps you could get through med school, if you have the grades, it's the only thing I've seen you show any interest in that would be acceptable today."

"Possibly. I'll consider it. I know how much work I'll need to do on you now. I can manage sessions about an hour long with this technique. You need at least fifty sessions, and I'll need to fit you around other obligations."

"I understand. Can you do the first one now?"

"Yes, if you want I can do one after each liaison, and we can discuss other times later."

"Please." He was being unwontedly polite, and I enjoyed it.

00()00


	3. Chapter 3

Thunderstorm101: No, Ryou isn't the same as Bakura, but it would spoil the plot if I told you. But you can find the bunny I'm writing to on page 46 of the Yugioh bunnies on Cheysuli-night's plot bunny farm, and Cheysuli's an author here.

shady gurl: Thanks, but Bakura isn't really a whore, Seto's paying him to remove his scars, not for the sex.

It had been nearly a month since we'd managed to give our yamis their own bodies and I was still getting used to how _beautiful_ mine was. When we were walking together I swear people would turn around and _follow_ him to get the chance to watch him for longer. I'd started to lust after him as well, but I'd already started to get weak the way I was before I was given the Ring, and I knew he'd only been logical to refuse me. It wasn't too bad yet, but bad enough that I was reluctant to go out of the apartment unless someone dragged me out. And I'd remembered something I'd deliberately forgotten about my teeth, how they'd been the same way they were immediately after that spell when they'd first grown in as adult teeth, and how I'd forced Yami to take over when the dentist filed them down to a normal shape.

It was funny sometimes to see how Kaiba and Atemu would compete over my yami when we were all doing something together - usually because Mokuba had dragged his brother along with him. They'd both flirt with him, blatantly, and try to get him within easy reach, preferably sitting beside them, or better yet leaning against them. I didn't know if he was really as indifferent to that as he appeared, sitting wherever was most comfortable, and putting up with the gloating and casual touch both boys indulged in when they felt they'd won...but I could get him to leave either of them and come fuss over me with as little as a word, or even just a glance.

Now I was waiting for a phone call my father'd scheduled by e-mail, and Bakura was beside me, making sure I knew my lines.

"You know what you have to say Yadonushi-sama?"

"For the hundredth time, _yes_. I mention that my old illness seems to be coming back, that I'm lonely, and ask when he's coming back for a while. If he tries to offer to stay with me I tell him that he shouldn't give up doing what he loves for me," not that he was likely to make that offer, "and I make a point of sounding brave. It isn't rocket science."

There was something about the way Yami reacted to my obvious frustration - almost anger really - a momentary tightening of his shoulders and at the corners of his eyes, but it was gone before I could identify it, and then the phone rang, pushing what I thought I'd noticed out of my mind.

"Hello?"

"Ryou, the dig's almost finished, I'll be coming home in two weeks, I'll ring you again closer to the time, but how are you now? Are you having any problems at school?" Like the ones that had forced him to keep moving me from school to school until I started at Domino.

"No, not really." I didn't even try to keep the weariness I felt out of my voice.

"What's wrong?" My father was _good_ at being concerned about me - as long as it was something he could do long distance.

"I...you remember how easily I got tired before I was about seven?"

"Yes. No one could work out _what_ was wrong with you...and then it went into remission. Has it come back?"

"It's starting to I think. I don't ever feel up to leaving my home, unless I have to, and I'm getting lonely...I can't expect my friends to keep on coming to visit me, and going out of their way to keep me entertained. This is the first time I've had friends stay with me...and now they're starting to go away again." I refused to actually whine, but it was close, deliberately so. Then I made a point of pushing my apparent depression away, and changed the subject. "Enough about that. What about you? Have you got another dig lined up? How long can you stay with me this time?"

He laughed, and began answering my questions, and I resented him fiercely for a moment for being so easy to distract. When I hung the phone up I wanted to burst into tears as I turned to Bakura, and my yami seemed to sense that, pulling me into a swift embrace.

"Thank you Yadonushi-sama. I know that was hard for you, and I'm so sorry I had to ask you to do that." His sympathy was enough to push me over the edge, and I cried into his shoulder for a while, before pushing away from him and wiping the tears from my eyes with a bitter laugh.

"I thought I'd gotten over crying over his attitude seven years ago. What do you need to know?"

"When will he be returning? And...can I assume he'll be flying from Alexandria?"

"Two weeks, and that's where he arrived in Egypt, it's the nearest airport to his dig."

"Thank you Yadonushi-sama. I've already told my lovers that I'll be leaving for a while...will you be alright living alone until he returns?"

Yami had always been very concerned about me, even if he'd resorted to desperate measures to get my attention the first time we met Yugi - I'd found myself perfectly healed after the next time he took my body over anyway - but it was showing more than usual now.

"Yes, I'll be fine. How long do you think I have before it gets really bad, the way it was when I first received the Ring?"

"I'm not sure. Forgive me, but...how long was that after you saw your mother and sister die?"

"Six months." And I'd felt a lot stronger immediately after they'd died, no, I wouldn't think that way.

"Then probably two to three months from now." That was a bit scary, but I'd deal with it, and Bakura had secured me the best medical treatment money could buy. "I should go now."

"Can't you stay one more night, and hold me?"

"If you want me to."

00()00

It had been almost a week since I'd left Ryou, and his father still hadn't come to Alexandria. I _knew_ because I'd set up a spell to tell me when he did, and if it was too close to his departure date when he arrived I'd have to stay here for longer to fix up my cover. I'd decided to spend the time until he arrived in feeding - or in other words getting laid three to four times a day, building up my reserves in case I needed to spend some time celibate or near celibate. But when I did sense Dr. Bakura's arrival in Alexandria I used my powers to bring the man fucking me to climax immediately and left him so I could find the doctor.

"Do you need a guide sir?" I spoke in Japanese, even if it didn't show on _Ryou_ his father's appearance was typical enough of the country to explain why I used the language - and I _pushed _at his mind to make him notice me, and hopefully recognise my resemblance to his son. I knew about the _other_ reason that would attract his attention, but I never planned to let Ryou know about it. When I felt a flare of swiftly locked down and half repressed lust I knew that I had his attention...his _full_ attention, and used a swift Shadow Magic spell to enhance and modify my innate heccubus ability to know and modify his desires, so that I'd be able to know the direction his thoughts were taking, and influence them, not just his lusts.

"No." He was almost going to just walk away from me, leaving me, leaving the inappropriate desires I reminded him of, standing there, but I pushed at his mind, instructing him to ask about the language, the language he hadn't quite realised we were speaking. "You speak Japanese...how?"

"I live by...entertaining tourists." Let him take that however he wanted to, if the doctor wanted to fuck me before he brought me back to Japan, to Yadonushi-sama, but with a legal ID this time, I wouldn't protest, I'd almost certainly be able to get away with refusing him after that. "I learned the most common tourist languages to help with that."

"Where did you learn Japanese?" He wouldn't believe me if I said it was from raking around in his son's head, but I already had a semi-plausible lie.

"From books, and...clients. I'm _good_ at languages." A hint of stubborn pride at that was in my voice, my health and vitality, enhanced by my most recent feeding shone from my skin as I pushed Ryou's father to think of how hard _he'd_ found it to learn Arabic. Besides that, he was thinking about how fragile his son was, and remembering his complaint about loneliness.

"How many languages do you know?" Displacement. I dragged his thoughts back to his son as I answered.

"Nine or ten. I'm not sure where the line is between different dialects and an entirely different language for a couple." I shrugged, thinking of how few languages it sounded when you considered how old I was, although I hadn't counted the programming languages, and some of them I'd learned for the fun of it, not for any use they had. Then I reminded Dr. Bakura how young I was - apparently anyway.

"What's your name?" Victory was in sight, as I answered I pushed him towards making the decision I wanted...needed him to make.

"Bakura of Kuru Eruna." I'd been too young for an adult name when my people were killed, so I wore my childhood name with pride.

"Kurerunano Bakura." He'd corrupted my birthplace into a familial designation, but it didn't matter...and I hadn't planned a family name anyway. I nodded in response to the inquiring tone in his voice. "I have a proposition for you. I've got a son about your age - sixteen, right?" I nodded again when he paused expectantly, it would do. "He's ill and he needs a companion. Would you like to move to Japan and be his companion? I'll expect you to help him with the housework and spend time with him." As he got weaker it would be more like do all of the housework, but Yadonushi-sama had managed it by himself well enough. "In exchange I'd make sure you always had enough money for groceries and the other household bills, as well as a reasonable allowance to spend for pleasure, and I'll pay for you to go to school with my son."

"Japan has really good schools I'd heard..." He'd probably feel better if he thought I was seduced by the chance to learn, rather than the promise of enough to eat and decent clothes, since all I was wearing was a linen kilt that was ragged and filthy. Then I shook his head, stepping away from him slightly. "How do I know you're telling the truth? And...I don't have a passport, or any legal ID."

"I've got contacts who can get you legal ID and a passport. Find somewhere with a phone you'd be comfortable being seen in with me and I'll call my son now. If you can speak to him will that be enough for you?" I'd made a point of looking visibly tempted by the offer of legal ID and stepped just a little closer to him when he offered to phone Ryou. Even when I'd backed away from him I was still easily in range for him to grab me, but that hadn't seemed to occur to him.

"I guess so..." I let my voice trail off, and glancing around us I led him to one of the hotels catering to tourists, with payphones in the lobby.

00()00

I had to wait another two weeks for my father to get home because of Yami's plan to get himself a legal ID, but I didn't mind. I knew he could have easily arranged a forgery for himself, but considering the trouble he'd gone to so Atemu could have a nice legal identity I couldn't blame him for wanting his own ID issued by a government. It probably helped that my father knew precisely which strings to pull to _get_ him a government-issue ID, if he hadn't my yami probably wouldn't have bothered. I hadn't known more than my part in his plan until three weeks ago, when my father phoned me, and asked me to talk to a boy he wanted to hire as my companion. I was ready to protest, until I heard Bakura's voice in my head warning me that this was part of his scheme, and then heard his voice in the real world on the phone. He'd sounded strange on the phone, and I had to assume that it was part of whatever act he was putting on to get my father to bring him here, if I thought it was anything else I'd probably go insane.

When I heard them at the door I went to greet them. I didn't get there before my father managed to open the door himself, but I was in time to help with their baggage - mostly my father's, it looked as if Bakura only had one small bag of carry-on luggage, while my father had all his gear from the expedition, since it had finished. And he had a new expedition to go on in just under a month, he'd be leaving just after we started back at school.

"Hello father. Is this..." I trailed off inquiringly.

"This is Kurerunano Bakura, the companion I found for you." He put a hand on Bakura's shoulder, while my yami seemed to study the floor at his feet, and something about that looked odd, but I couldn't pin it down exactly. "I was shocked at how much he looks like you, but it helped me get him a legal identity, and Japanese citizenship." Bakura looked incredibly young and vulnerable, wearing nothing but thin white linen trousers and a matching tunic with flat sandals. It was probably part of the act that let him manipulate my father, but it was convincing as hell.

"Hello Kurerunano-kun. Don't you have any more things than that?" I began helping my father bring his things in as I spoke, even if he only let me carry the lightest bags.

"Please Ryou-dono, just call me Bakura. And no, I don't, not worth bringing. Your father has been generous, but he said we'd do better to buy new clothes for me here in Japan." I finally managed to pin down what had been so different about my yami's voice when he'd spoken to me over the phone...it wasn't as seductive or sensual as it normally was - usually he sounded as if he was talking dirty even when the topic was totally innocuous.

"You can borrow some of my clothes until you get something new. And If I'm going to call you Bakura then you can call me Ryou - no honorifics."

"As you wish." He paused, before finally looking up from the floor and smiling at me. "Ryou." He glanced around the apartment, biting his lip uncertainly, sending a current straight to my groin. "Where do you want me?" My father damn near flinched at that...I _didn't_ want to know.

:You're overplaying this. Stop it.:

"Ryou, we do have a spare room Bakura can sleep in don't we?" My father's question came simultaneously with Yami's mental response.

-I can't, not now. He'll be suspicious if I suddenly change how I act. And your father made it _very_ clear that I had to be polite to you. I can get more 'relaxed' as you 'get used to' me.-

"There's a room, but no spare beds." I replied absently, frowning at Bakura. :Alright then, but you better 'relax' _quickly_.:

"I don't need a bed Ryou. I'll be fine with just a pile of cushions and blankets." Was that what he'd been sleeping on before? I'd assumed he'd just taken my father's bed. -I'll try Yadonushi-sama, but then you should seem to like me as well.-

"No." Bakura's reaction to the firm tone of my voice was weird too, he almost seemed to be bracing himself for a second, but I had to be wrong. "Father, will we be able to buy a bed for Bakura today?" I doubted it from how exhausted he looked, and from how late in the afternoon it was. :Were you sleeping in father's bed before you left? And yes, I'll make it clear that I like you.:

"No, we can't. Umm..." He looked around the room as if searching for inspiration. "My bed's big enough for two, you and Bakura could use it, and I'll take your bed." There was something about the way Bakura had looked when my father mentioned the size of his bed, but it disappeared again before I could figure out what it was. "And we'll go shopping to buy a bed, and everything else Bakura needs tomorrow."

-Yes, I was sleeping in your father's bed, even if it wasn't entirely appropriate.- Not appropriate? Why not? -You know, back in Egypt his offer to buy me a bed would have been as good as proposing marriage to me.- I guessed that was probably 'why not' then. I could barely keep from laughing out loud at that, and when my amusement flowed through our link Bakura seemed to relax in some way, but I responded to my father as soon as I could control myself.

"All right. We'll pick out some clothes for you now Bakura." I held out my hand to him, and he took it, letting me lead him to my bedroom.

00()00

Ryou'd already told his friends not to come and visit while his father was here - at least not until I said they could. I was grateful he'd done it while I was away, instead of before I left the way I wanted at first - until he'd said he'd rather tell them without me present - considering the way they'd accused me of trying to hurt him or something in the memory he'd let me see. So he'd promised on my behalf that I'd drag him out of the house a lot, and bring him to see them, to reassure them that I wasn't abusing him.

That hadn't been an option while we were being dragged around the shops to buy new clothes and other things for me, but I dragged him out the next day, under the excuse of getting a tour of Domino City. His father hadn't protested too much once I promised to bring him back if he got tired.

"Where are we _really_ going?" He waited until we were well out of earshot to ask that at least.

"To find the Pharaoh. Our cover stories give us a reason to know each other, and that lets him and the midget come visit. I can find him by the Pyramid if you'll give me the Millennium Ring."

"Why not let me do it? I know how to?" But he handed the Ring over to me anyway.

"Because it takes some of your energy, not much, but I'd rather you didn't spend your energy on Shadow Magic, or anything but living."

"Oh." The Ring directed us to the Game Shop, and we found Pharaoh no baka stacking shelves while the midget manned the till.

"Coming down in the world Pharaoh?" The way he jumped told me he hadn't realised we were there, even if I found it hard to believe that he was so oblivious.

"What do you want Tomb Robber?" His hostile words sounded half defensive, so I focused on what he'd asked, instead of his tone.

"To brief you on the cover for you and Yugi to visit, among other things." Ryou'd drifted over to look at the rarer cards, after greeting the midget.

"Oh, did you come here to arrange-"

"No." I cut him off. "According to the schedule the Priest gets me next. I'll be ringing around to set up appointments. No, I want my own duelling deck. I'll write out a list of cards, you work out what they're likely to cost, and I'll have one of my accounts transfer that much, plus ten percent leeway, and another twenty percent as commission for you to put it together for me."

"Me personally? I wouldn't think you'd trust me that much." It was nice to see him so taken aback.

"Oh, I fully intend to tell your...grandfather is it? Or did you decide to pass him off as your father?" They hadn't enlightened me or Ryou on which of the cover stories I'd suggested they'd decided to use.

"Grandfather, we found an expedition just before he got married, the other option would have him breaking his vows." He looked slightly embarrassed by the idea of calling the old mortal his grandfather, quite a come down from being hailed as the son of Ra I guessed.

"Well, I'll be telling him about it as well, I'll be paying the money into an account associated with the shop after all, so he'll want to know." At least I would assuming..."Yugi?"

"Yes Bakura?"

"Do you know the account number for the shop account? Or can you find it?"

"Um, no, I'm afraid not."

"Right, then I'll make the list up, and come when your grandfather's here to sat up the wire transfer. But in the meantime we need to plan out how we 'know each other' Atemu." I moved over to the counter to have a solid surface for writing on. "Give me a pen and some paper Yugi, and I can write out the list of cards I'm paying you to get for me while we plan."

"Obviously we're claiming to have been living in the same city."

"Yes, and since you were better off than most you had a chance to get into duelling." I frowned, thinking for a moment. "One of my clients taught me the basics, and an occasional tourist would pay me with cards, but I usually sold them to pay for my studies, internet access, that sort of thing."

"But you usually used those cards in duelling with me, using a deck mostly built out of my collection with whatever other cards you'd been given before you sold them." He was frowning at the idea of my treating the cards so casually, even if it was just a cover story. Still he was getting into the spirit of things.

"You ran into us as Ryou was taking me exploring, and you'll be coming with your cousin to visit us, bringing me enough booster packs to give me a chance to build a basic deck. Add it to what I owe you for these." I handed the list over to the Pharaoh when he'd finished stacking the shelves.

"No, _those_ cards _will_ be gifts." Atemu looked at Yugi in shock, and even I was a bit surprised by the firmness in his voice. "You financed the plane ticket to support our cover story, and getting Atemu a new wardrobe."

"You did earn it." My protest was pretty much pro forma, I was already going to pay them a _lot_ of money.

"Was Atemu doing anything you couldn't have done?"

"Better. Bakura could have done it far better. He never hurt Chihiro, and he did other things for her as well." Ryou interrupted then and made the Pharaoh blush again.

"If you're willing to wait a couple of hours Jiichan will be taking over soon. You can talk with him about the account details."

"I don't need to know them, I just need him to tell them to the people at my bank." When Ryou told me that he wanted to stay through our link I continued. "But, yeah, we can wait."

00()00


	4. Chapter 4

I hadn't expected Atemu to turn up the next day with the starter and booster packs he'd promised Bakura, but I was pretending to help Bakura study when we heard a knock on the door.

"I'll get it." He put his two copies of 'The Tale of Genji' aside (well, one of them was technically mine - the one in modern Japanese, not classical Japanese, but he was working from both of them) and left me working on a new carving. My father was probably too busy working on an article he needed to submit or something to bother with answering the door or anything like that, it wasn't as if it was anything I wasn't used to. I'd been frankly astonished that he'd been willing to spend even his first full day back with us, helping to get Bakura everything he needed, and I was sure I'd been missing something in the way my yami was behaving. I could half hear him greeting Atemu and Yugi, and he thanked Atemu for the cards loudly enough for my father to overhear before explaining.

"I'm studying so that I can keep up with Ryou in school," And if that wasn't ridiculous nothing was...he was one hell of a lot smarter than I was, and I'd lost track of how many times some concept I'd had problems grasping was suddenly clear in my head - I knew now that meant he'd understood it and passed that understanding along to me. "so I don't have time to duel with you. But Ryou's a collector, he knows about all of the cards. You could duel with him."

Bakura settled back on the floor, leaning up against the bed to open the cards Atemu'd given him while I put my carving away and got out my card collection.

"Give me a few minutes to put a deck together then, and I'll duel one of you."

"You don't have a deck ready?" Yugi sounded really surprised, but Bakura'd just _told_ him I'm a collector more than a duellist. I shrugged mentally and concluded that Yugi wasn't really that much brighter than Atemu was.

"The cards would get damaged if I kept them in a deck. Kaiba might be happy to damage his cards, even his precious Blue Eyes White Dragons, but I'm not." I heard a slight indrawn breath from Bakura as I spoke, and let him feel my curiosity.

"I got The Left Leg of Exodia. It doesn't fit my style, but do you want it?"

"_Please._" I didn't have all the rest, but it was a rare card, and I liked collecting the cards more than duelling, Besides, there was something special about the pieces of Exodia that I had. "Find anything else interesting?"

"Yes. This." He showed me another card as he handed me the Exodia piece. The Book of Secret Arts? My doubts must have shown on my face. "It...brings back memories, good ones." He stroked the card gently, smiling. "You mentioned Kaiba, I should call him and set up an appointment so we can get back into a routine. Pass me the Ring for a moment, I stored the cell phone he gave me there."

"Kaiba gave you a cell phone Tomb Robber?" Atemu sounded surprised.

"Yes, and I guess he pays the bill too, I haven't gotten one anyway."

"Think he's in love?" Yugi sounded almost teasing, but I could just imagine the problems it'd make for my yami if he started teasing Kaiba as well.

"Hardly. I don't think he's capable of loving anyone but his brother." I could sense a wistful sorrow across our link and something warmer that had to be love. "It's more a matter of control."

:But you love him, don't you: That had to be the other thing I was sensing from Bakura, why else would he feel sad.

-What! You're joking!- Bakura actually laughed out loud at that. -No, I pity him, because he's so damaged, and it's damage I don't know how to heal.- If I'd misinterpreted that emotion what else had I misunderstood? It didn't matter, Atemu was staring at my yami suspiciously, and I needed to deal with that.

"I had the stupid idea that Bakura might love Kaiba, and I mentioned it to him."

"The Tomb Robber doesn't know how to love." Contempt filled Atemu's voice, and I wanted to hit him for a second. "Have you put your deck together yet?"

"No, I got distracted. I'm only duelling one of you remember?" I let a hint of warning seep into my voice, I didn't know why, and Bakura came to lean against me, watching me make my deck.

-Might I give you some advice Yadonushi-sama?-

:Please. I don't play much, but I'm sick of the way they assume I won't put up any sort of challenge.:

-Think of the game as a type of ritualised battle or war. One that is usually settled by a series of individual duels, and choose your deck based on what you know of their decks...they don't change that much. Then base your strategies on that way of thinking, treating this as a type of battle.- It didn't make much sense on the surface, but when I tried following Yami's advice it became obvious what cards I should use. Meanwhile Yugi and Atemu were looking around my bedroom.

"You can read classical Japanese Ryou?" Yugi assumed the book was mine, despite the notes in Yami's handwriting surrounding it. My father'd told us we could each buy some books when we were getting stuff for Bakura, and he'd mostly chosen books in classical Japanese I had a translation of.

"No."

"Then it's yours Tomb Robber?" Atemu sounded so surprised by that.

"Yes." Bakura snatched it back, settling down on the floor again, and pulling his notes back into order. "Ryou's father is generous with his money if not his time."

"I'm ready to duel now. Who am I going to play with." I beat Yami first, and then Yugi using the technique Bakura'd suggested. Not quickly, but I did beat them. We'd have played again, but by then it was getting late and they had to leave.

00()00

I'd spent all day doing the tests I needed to pass to get into Domino High School, and into the same classes as Ryou. It had originally been scheduled to go over two days, and Atemu would take the entire two days, but we'd been told that once we'd finished the tests on one subject we could ask for the tests on the next, and I'd gone through them pretty fast. I doubted I'd have any problem getting in, the tests had all been simple enough that even Atemu wouldn't have any real problem with them, but I wasn't entirely certain I'd be in Ryou's class without intervention from someone, either the Priest, or Ryou's father.

It was Atemu's turn to have me anyway, so I waited outside the school for him to finish the tests. I'd warned Ryou's father that I'd be spending some time with Atemu after the tests, but he didn't have too much of a problem with it, even if he had been confused last week when Seto Kaiba came to 'pick Bakura up for our date' as he put it. By the time I got back he'd concluded that I was whoring myself out to him, the way he thought I'd lived in Alexandria, and he'd warned me that 'such behaviour is not acceptable while you live under my roof.' I'd laughed, and fed him the cover story I'd cooked up with the Priest for that: he'd visited Egypt a few months ago - a matter of record - and I'd managed to snag the job of native guide (I think he assumed I got it on my back, but so what). We'd talked about the older games, chess and sennet - or backgammon as it is today - and he'd been impressed by my playing, as well as by my knowledge of science considering my background. I'd had him blushing and apologising for his assumptions by the end of the story.

"Tomb Robber. How did you finish everything so quickly?" Atemu looked furious at the speed I'd gotten through the tests, as if it was some sort of personal affront to him.

"I had to pay some attention to Yadonushi-sama's lessons if I was going to provide him with the understanding he needed, and I couldn't tell which subjects he'd need that in until he needed it. It was easier to just pay attention to all his lessons, and do some additional study." I shrugged, casually, it really wasn't that important to me, and if he'd bothered to pay attention to anything besides his precious games the tests wouldn't have frustrated him so much. My response seemed to frustrate him even further, because he grabbed hold of my wrists and pulled off his collar, fastening it around them tight enough to hurt.

He dragged me along by my wrists, and I did my best to make it look as natural as I could until we got to a dark alley - not that much of a surprise I guessed. In his mood he wasn't likely to want to bother with the love-hotels we'd used before, and considering his tastes we certainly couldn't fuck at the Game Store. I don't think he ever realised that I _let_ him manhandle me during our appointments, he was only human strength after all. He bent me over and let me lean against the wall of the alley, then he pulled my trousers down and took his belt off, so he could use it on my ass. I responded the way he wanted, letting him see pain, and just a hint of arousal, both genuine, even knowing I'd heal instantly when he came and until he stopped fucking me it still hurt, and my arousal came from his.

"Where've you got a knife hidden today?" Since I couldn't carry them openly and since I found it easier to use a knife offensively than my magic I always hid a knife or knives about my body and unfortunately their presence at least was common knowledge in our circle.

"Jacket pocket. Right." That was the most obvious place for me to put a knife, and the one there was an old fashioned cut-throat razor and the sharpest of the knives I was carrying, so it would hurt the least. He dug into my pocket to retrieve the blade, then cut my left hip, gathering the blood he'd drawn to use as a sort of lube - not a very good one, and it meant once he'd gotten inside me it would likely be worse than if he hadn't bothered using lube at all, but it was enough with the precum covering his dick to let him get inside me. It still hurt though, and I cried out the way I knew he liked me to, Atemu _enjoys_ thinking that he's 'punishing' me for whatever crimes his imagination comes up with - _this_ time it was probably for how easily I'd got through all the tests, since I'd occasionally seen _him_ frantically trying to write more as he ran out of time.

He came quickly enough, filling me with energy and healing my injuries, all of them, but he didn't pull out, and stayed leaning against my back, playing idly with a nipple. I put up with it for a while, but when I felt him becoming hard again that was enough. I shifted to the form of a child, my clothes falling loose around my body and the collar binding my wrists now far too slack to be of any use. The shapeshift had the side effect of removing Atemu from my body, and killing all his desire easily. I used his shock to get away from him and shifted back to my usual form, pulling up my trousers as I did.

"You've taken your pleasure, and I have other things to do. We only need to pretend to be friends for Ryou's father." With those words I turned and walked away. He grabbed hold of my elbow to stop me.

"But you told Ryou's father you'd be spending time with me. Doesn't that mean we have to be seen together?" I could feel the cruel satisfaction he felt at the thought of keeping me from Ryou, or whatever I intended, but he was right.

"Then take me to an arcade, we can be seen playing on those games." He seemed to accept that, and insisted on guiding me by the arm as if I needed the help, but I let him have that little victory.

00()00

I was surprised to find Yami still at home, in the kitchen stirring a pan of miso when I got up.

"Didn't you have more tests to get into Domino High today?" I was still half asleep as he ladled a bowl of miso out for me and handed me a cup of coffee too.

"I...got through all of them yesterday actually." He got himself a bowl of miso and a cup of coffee and joined me, pushing his hair out of his face in a way that made him look delicate, fragile...and it was only then that it hit home to me that he _was_ delicate, even compared to me, at least in appearance. His bone structure was finer, and he was perhaps two inches shorter than me, and whipcord thin, he had muscles, but they weren't bulky or anything, he looked like an acrobat more than anything else.

"I always knew you were a genius. Yugi invited me to visit him at the Game Shop today." He'd come over yesterday, with his friends, it was plausible too, his explanation that he'd known I'd be lonely with Bakura gone to sit the same tests as Atemu. Still, I couldn't seem to get up the enthusiasm to actually _go _to visit Yugi, even if I was sure Bakura would _want_ me to.

"Do you think he'll mind if I come along too?" Bakura tilted his head to one side, showing his throat as he asked. "I should make arrangements with Yugi for tomorrow, and besides I can help you back if you need it." Something about the casual way Bakura exposed his throat to me was almost intoxicating, so I didn't pay as much attention as I should have to the rest of his words. I knew I should have been insulted by his assumption that I'd need help getting back home, except...I might well need the help, if not yet then soon.

"Sure." And that meant that I'd have to go. "Do you want to give me advice on which deck to use?"

"I have no advice for you beyond what I suggested before, think of it as a war or a battle." He smiled at me and licked his lower lip, almost nervously.

"You don't do it that way." He always had strategies planned for various contingencies...but his plans were always pretty flexible, and he knew how to take advantage of whatever luck he got.

"No, I don't...but it's different for me, I'm a lot older, and my intuitive abilities run different to yours, I work with my strengths, and I'm trying to tell you how to work to yours." He shrugged again. "But my strengths are those of a fuck toy, yours aren't." He really believed that? That he was just a 'fuck toy'? And how did that work with how lethal he could be?

"You can make a deck up from my collection." I didn't know what else to offer him...the cards he'd ordered still hadn't arrived yet.

"And the few useful cards in those booster packs. I have a couple of strategies in mind. If the appropriate cards are left after you've made up your deck."

"Why not make your deck up first then?"

"No, it's your collection, you get the first choice." There was something else behind that, but I couldn't bring myself to care about it, and I selected my deck while Bakura watched once I was dressed. I lingered over my three Exodia pieces, but they were only useful if you drew all five of them in a single hand...not very likely - especially if you didn't _have_ all five to draw. People were still raving about the one time Atemu had managed it, against Kaiba, and he'd probably used his Shadow Magic without realising it, all of the best duellists did, including Kaiba and Jounouchi, even if Kaiba refused to believe in it. Still, there was something about those cards...

"I wish you'd let me teach you the offensive and power drawing aspects of Shadow Magic while we were sharing your body, Yadonushi-sama." There was sorrow in Bakura's voice as he spoke, interrupting my train of thought, and I realised that I was still fondling my Exodia pieces, even though I'd finished making up my deck. "You'd have been a natural for the first aspect, and the second would help keep you from weakening so rapidly now."

"Why..." I was about to ask why I'd be a natural in the offensive aspects when they'd been so hard for him to use, I didn't _like _hurting people after all, but then I decided I probably didn't want to know and changed the question. "can't you teach me the power drawing aspects now then?"

"Because I'm being selfish and I'd prefer it if you stayed as strong as you can for as long as you can, and until you've got it down drawing power from the Shadows _costs_ you more energy than you get out of it, it took me three months to master it." And if it took _Bakura_ that long it would take me even longer. I saw his point as I pushed my collection over for him to choose from, but I had to wonder why _he_ didn't draw his power from the Shadows.

"I'm sorry." There was a look of surprise of his face at that, slight, I almost missed it, but still there. "I should have listened to you when you wanted me to learn from you. No chance you can just teach me it the way you taught me Arabic and other languages?"

"No, it needs full-body learning, not like the languages or the theoretical stuff you did in school. It's like I couldn't help you with sports, or in fights," Although there was something about that last term that sounded like a lie, or at best a half truth. "except by taking over and doing them for you."

"Oh, just pick your deck and we'll go then."

00()00

Mutou-san, Sugoroku, was manning the Game Shop when we got there, so I handed Ryou over to Yugi and his friends so I could talk to him about my order. I was fully aware of the irony inherent in a _heccubus_ handing responsibility for one of the most powerful Battle Bred demons over to a group of humans, but if he kept on refusing to admit what he was...

"What do you want Kurerunano-san?" He was treating me like a stranger, it wasn't _actively_ hostile, but it wasn't how he'd treat Ryou. "We've got the more common cards you ordered, but it will take a while to get the rarer ones. They aren't always available."

"If you've managed to get my Dark Necrophia then I'll take what you've got so far, please." Ryou had allowed me to use his, because apparently he didn't think she'd fit into his battle plans, but I'd rather have one of my own, so I could start building an affinity with my own cards.

"No, we haven't found that card yet."

"Then I'll wait. But there's something else, I want you to get two pieces of Exodia for me, the head and the right arm. How much should I transfer for those?"

"I...I don't know. There's always a bidding war whenever a piece of Exodia comes on the market, especially since Yugi managed to use Exodia in a duel." Pride in his grandson filled his voice.

"Then I'll do what I should have done with that list to start off with. I'll set up an account that you have access to, and you can use the money in it to buy any cards I add to the list of what I want, starting with the Exodia pieces. I'll pay you a small retainer from when you've gotten everything on the list currently, and say a five percent finder's fee on top of that for any cards you buy for me."

"You paid twenty percent commission for the original list."

"And I wasn't offering a retainer then either. Seven and a half percent then." I smiled as he suddenly realised he'd started to haggle with me. It might be fun to take my time over it, but I was willing to give him ten percent, but no more.

"Fifteen if you're asking me to take time from my work to look for these cards for you."

"You run a game shop, it won't be that hard for you, or even take time from your job. I can find the cards without you, but it will please Yadonushi-sama if I have you do this. Ten percent. That's my final offer. We can discuss the retainer when you've finished my first list, or get the first of these additional cards."

"Very well. Where are you getting all this money?" He sounded suspicious and I couldn't really blame him.

"Shadow Magic can be used to heal scarlessly, including removing old scars. It's quite profitable." I gave him the most innocuous and vague explanation, I wasn't going to mention the paedophile who'd been pursuing Ryou when he first got the Ring, and how I'd opened my first accounts with money transferred from his after I killed him. "Can I go to join Yadonushi-sama and his friends now?" I let just a hint of impatience fill my voice, and when he nodded I went up to find Ryou duelling with Jounouchi.

It was obvious that he was winning easily, despite Yugi's offered advice, but Anzu and Honda were still supporting him, and I could understand that, they owed more loyalty to him than to Ryou. I bit my lip, even though he didn't _need_ my support I was sure he'd enjoy it, but I needed to talk to Yugi as well, and for one subject it would help if Ryou was distracted by the game.

"You said you wanted to talk to Yugi didn't you Bakura? Perhaps you can get him to _stop _backseat duelling for Jounouchi." _Both_ of them blushed at that. I just loved it when he showed his demon nature, even in such a small way as that...it made me just a little weak in the knees. Jounouchi and Yugi both seemed embarrassed to hear that, although Yugi did defend himself.

"Well, you beat me and mou hitori no boku when we came to visit you and give Bakura those cards."

"I wanted to arrange things for tomorrow with you, Yugi, Ryou's father was very suspicious about my date with the Priest, and even if I managed to cover the rest up better we still need to make arrangements."

"Oh, will you be teaching me another spell? I'd like to learn one of your healing spells."

"That would be a problem, you don't have the reserves for major healing spells, and we don't exactly have any suitable practice subjects, so it would be awkward, I'll think about it, if that's okay?" I was exaggerating slightly, but I'd given him more than a few hints about how to link to the Puzzle and find out what he wanted to know from the information stored inside it, if he couldn't figure it out that was his problem. And he was too much of a martyr for me to risk teaching him any spell that had the potential to take so much power from him that it would kill him.

"Okay then. What do you want to do tomorrow then?"

"I'm not sure." I bit my lip, glancing over at Ryou and his friends. I'd actually snuck out of the house for Anzu and Jounouchi, but that wasn't something I wanted to do too often. "You and Atemu could come to visit, and we could be together while Atemu duelled Ryou again."

"He's been wanting a rematch. We can do that."

"Thank you. Something else, Check with your grandfather, I'm paying him to find the Exodia pieces Ryou doesn't have for me, as a surprise for him. If you have them then you can name your price. I think that Exodia's his ka-beast."

"Exodia?" He sounded shocked and I couldn't blame him but it made a strange sort of sense when I thought about it. "Right. The pieces I've got are no good on their own anyway, and I can't afford to bid for the other pieces. Do you want to duel me?"

"Sure." I pulled out my deck, ready to face the younger King of Games.

00()00


	5. Chapter 5

**Note: I've already implied that Yugi and Yami aren't that good with money, remember they couldn't pay for Atemu's ticket from Egypt without Bakura's help in chapter 2. Yes, if Yugi entered tournaments with high prize money he could easily afford to bid for any cards he wanted, as long as he kept the money. But he hands it all over to his Grandpa, and he puts somewhere between half and three quarters away in a trust to pay for university and higher education, and the rest goes into supporting the shop - which used to be subsidised in part by his father's high paying job.**

**Besides, Exodia doesn't really mean that much to Yugi, and he shares Kaiba's feeling on it, that using it to win isn't really honourable. Ryou wants them for their rarity and because they represent his ka, even if he doesn't realise. And Bakura recognises Ryou's link to Exodia and wants to see if he could automatically draw all five pieces in his first hand if they were hidden in a deck - he thinks that Ryou would every time.**

It had been easy to finish beating Jounouchi once Yugi wasn't there to give him tips, but then Anzu looked almost as if she wanted to duel me, but she was afraid to challenge.

"I think we've been underestimating you Bakura-kun. Why haven't you ever entered into any tournaments yourself or even duelled like this before?"

"I...this is a new technique. It's something Yami suggested since he got his own body, I wouldn't have listened to him before." I glanced over at him, biting my lower lip, and saw him duelling with Yugi. This would be good, unless Yugi had the God Cards then I knew Bakura was in with a chance. He'd always lost to Atemu before, since the Pharaoh would never have allowed Yugi to duel him, but I knew that if it hadn't been for my intervening to help Atemu, cheating in other words, or the use of the God Cards the Pharaoh would probably have lost. But I had the feeling that _Yugi_ was in fact the better player by a slight margin, he just didn't get the same sort of attention as his yami did. "Bakura's duelling Yugi, do you want to go cheer your friend on?" I didn't want to have to explain _what_ my new technique consisted of, because it didn't make sense, and I didn't want to think too deeply about it, or about the way Bakura saw himself either.

"Yeah, he always supports me." Jounouchi probably saw that as just part of friendship, he was very loyal, something he had in common with Kaiba, even if neither of them acknowledged it, and with Atemu and Yugi, people they'd both be happier to be compared to. I'd support Bakura, he needed someone supporting him, and I'd never given him that before.

"Bakura, show us what you can do without me interfering with your game." He looked at me with shock written on his face as I sat beside him and acknowledged how badly I'd damaged his plans at times, then he just nodded and made his move. I couldn't remember the details of the deck he'd put together, but even though his move was in his usual reckless style I had a feeling it might not have been the best move he could have made. I didn't say anything, but what I was feeling had to be leaking through our bond.

"I'm _not_ Battle Bred, I'm a Child of Desire. I can't think the way I advised you to, I already told you that." He sounded weary as he explained. "Please, block any criticisms you might be feeling of my style. Considering how tightly his Shadow Magic is linked to gaming anyway..."

But I'd beaten him, and Atemu, their Shadow Magic hadn't been working that well then. Then I realised; he was telling me not to make him doubt himself, because that would make it harder for him to win.

"I don't know that much other Shadow Magic. We've got people here, couldn't you teach me a healing spell after this?" I felt a flash of annoyance from Bakura at that, but he swiftly suppressed it, or at least made sure I couldn't sense it.

"If anyone here has a suitably minor injury, or a headache or some other ache and you win then yes I'll teach you a spell to deal with it. But only if two of the others duel with Yadonushi-sama while we're duelling." I didn't like it, but I could see the sense of it, and it might be a bit more of a challenge than facing Jounouchi alone.

"You mean a threeway duel where the other two are automatically allied against me, right?" I did have to clarify a little.

"Yes, unless and until you're defeated. If that happens they get to finish off by duelling against each other. but until you're out they focus on defeating you." Bakura smiled at me coldly. -Not that I expect them to win against you, but it should give you a little more of a challenge.-

"Fine by me. Who's got a deck to duel me?" I could see how shocked Yugi was by my response, but I just waited for the others to respond. Eventually Anzu confirmed that she had a deck of her own on her.

"But I'm not sure how well it will work together with Jounouchi-kun's deck."

"You'll outnumber me anyway, so why not try?"

"Okay." She was still reluctant as they prepared to play against me, but her confidence seemed to grow as they whispered together about their strategies. I had to wonder about how well they could co-ordinate their strategies, since Jounouchi's was based on chance, and pure power mostly, while it had been so long since I'd seen Anzu duel that I'd forgotten her style.

They did better than I'd expected, and I finally reduced both my opponents' lifepoints to zero just a turn before Yugi finished defeating Bakura.

"What about that spell then Bakura?" He wasn't gloating, and Bakura didn't seem that upset by his defeat, probably because of how long it had taken Yugi to best him.

"Which would you prefer? The spell to heal minor injuries - bruises and cuts that don't need stitches - or the one to kill pain?"

"The first."

"Does anyone here have a suitable injury then?" When no one answered at first I got a horrible, wonderful idea and spoke without thinking.

"Or is anyone willing to let a suitable injury be created. Wouldn't that be better Bakura?"

"Only if you aren't the 'victim' Yadonushi-sama. In fact only if you _inflict_ the injury." Bakura's feelings as he spoke were a weird mixture of hope, dread, fear, longing and something else I couldn't name, all flavoured with his love for me.

"No need. I've got some bruises you can work on." Jounouchi pushed his shirt up to show them and I watched as Bakura led Yugi through a spell I'd mastered shortly after accepting that Bakura was real.

00()00

I'd been surprised to learn that I was supposed to go in for an interview the day after I'd been with Yugi. It seemed a remarkably short length of time for my exams to have been marked in, and I hadn't expected to be interviewed until _after_ my exam results had been examined. Never-the-less I dressed more smartly than I had to take the exams, in a white linen suit with a red cotton shirt, even going so far as to wear one of those torture devices modern humanity called ties, a simple black one and reported to Dr. Bakura for inspection.

"Will I give the right impression sir?"

"I think so. Would you like me to come with you?" It was asked out of duty, I could tell that he was distracted by his research, but I still found it sweet for some reason.

"No sir, that won't be necessary." He frowned, obviously unhappy with the formality I'd reverted to as soon as we got here, since he'd insisted I use his name, familial name at least, while we were in Egypt.

"If you're sure then." I nodded, and left, carrying a bag with Ryou's 'Tale of Genji' - it was a good story, and I wasn't far enough in my work on figuring out classical Japanese to read the original. I was probably messing up a bit by working from published translations, no matter how accurate they were technically there was always the issue of interpretation, but they'd do for a start. I could probably get a book on the subject as well when I'd gotten as far as I felt I could without any aid.

I arrived just slightly early for my interview and the secretary had me wait for the headmaster in her office. I just shrugged and pulled my book out, starting to read it from the beginning - I'd been a bit distracted from the plot by my work on translation before.

"Kurerunano-kun?"

"Yes Ma'am?"

"It's time for your interview." She sound amused as she answered me, and for some reason I found myself blushing. I just wished I knew _why_, it wasn't because she was interested in me, not seriously, she saw me as too young, a refreshing change in a way.

"Thank you. I hadn't realised." Then I walked through to the headmaster's office and waited for him to acknowledge my presence.

"Sit down Kurerunano-kun. After your performance on Monday we had your papers marked as quickly as we could. With scores like that why do you want to come here? You could get into much better schools if you wanted."

"You have had students go from here to pre-med though, and...it has been suggested that I aim for that. Besides, some of the subjects I want to study aren't taught anywhere before university. So it wouldn't matter where I went, and at least here I'll get through the work quickly enough to have time to devote to my independent projects."

"What sort of independent projects are you thinking of?" He sounded approving, there was that at least.

"Well, I can do some computer programming, in BASIC and FORTRAN mostly, I need to work in more depth on that. And," I pulled out my 'Tale of Genji' to illustrate, "I hope to be able to read this in the original form within a year."

"I see." He sounded impressed by my words. "How are you at sports and teamwork though?"

"Well, I grew up on the streets of Alexandria, in the slums, so I know how to use a knife. And I'm stronger than I look." I let myself glance at him flirtatiously for the first time, and I saw how his breath caught in his throat.

"The main problem would be deciding what class to place you in. Even if I put you with the best of our final year you would be forcing them too fast. And I really should put you with your peers. Age wise that would put you with the fifteen year olds, but intellectually that would mean you should be applying for university."

"Please, place me with Bakura-san. Dr. Bakura brought me here to be his companion. And I won't be insulted if you ordered the teachers to pace their lessons to the next best classmate's ability. As I said, it will allow me to work on personal projects." I wasn't getting what I wanted, what else could I do? "Or you could personally tutor me in whichever subjects you think I should do to get a head start for college?" I could see his interest in that idea, and used a Shadow Magic spell to find out which subjects would work best in case he asked me to make suggestions. If I'd thought of it before I'd have done some research to find out what his areas of interest and expertise were, but as it was I had to use Shadow Magic to find out, a fitting punishment for my lack of forethought.

"What subjects did you have in mind for that?"

"I don't know exactly. Kaiba-san recommended med-school for me pretty firmly," I couldn't see his idea that I could handle med school as anything but a recommendation, "and I like learning languages, so Latin, and Greek, ancient Greek that is. It would be useful if I went for Law instead as well." And he'd studied Ancient Languages at university himself. "I'd like to learn other languages, ancient and modern, but they might not be as useful as those two and I already know the more important modern languages. Anatomy might be useful for med school, or if I could find a way to take some of the classes from pre-med..." I trailed off, leaving him to make his mind up.

"You say you speak the more important modern languages. Which are they?"

"Cantonese, Mandarin - although I'm never sure if those two are different languages or just different dialects - English, Spanish, Japanese of course - but I'm not entirely comfortable with the suffixes, for this or the Chinese variants - French, German, Italian and Arabic. I think the Italian will help me with Latin."

"Yes, it will. Then I can take you out of your English lessons to study with me. I'll make the arrangements and put you in the same class as Bakura-kun." He sounded happy about the idea of spending so much time with me, but I didn't think he'd try to take advantage of it, he just wanted me around him.

"Thank you sir." I stood and bowed before leaving.

00()00

I had to wonder how Bakura planned to explain his 'date' with Honda to my father. Honda was the only straight guy in our circle, the rest of us were all at least bi if not out and out gay so my yami wore his female form for Honda, and once as a favour to Seto. Bakura made as sexy a woman as he did a man though, her hair was longer than his, falling almost to her ass instead of just over his shoulders. His height didn't change, but as a woman she had the tiniest waist, I'd _seen_ Honda span it with his two hands and her legs were proportionally longer than his. She had bigger breasts than any woman I'd met, even Mai, but it didn't seem out of proportion, even if they should have. In short she was the stuff wet dreams are made of. And so different from her male self that my father would spot it in an instant. Even with how he locked himself away to write up his papers and read other papers in his area he'd still notice. He might not realise who she _was_ - I'd seen Atemu assume she was someone else in that form - but he'd know there was a girl he'd never met before wandering around our home.

"Are you planning to leave through the Shadow Realm for your 'date' with Honda?" It was the obvious solution, especially as it meant he wouldn't have to use his powers to make clothes to fit his female form, and could dress in one of the outfits he stored in the Ring.

"Yes Yadonushi-sama." Bakura put his book down, paying his full attention to me, something I hadn't quite gotten used to yet, but still something he always did when I spoke to him. "Will that be a problem?"

"No." Why would it? I wasn't going to try and restrict him, even if I could. "But how are you planning to keep my father from realising that you're gone?"

"I won't need to." Bakura blushed faintly, not meeting my eyes. I had a bad feeling about this. "He wanted to spend some time with you alone and he asked me what sort of thing you're interested in. I told him that you used to be into Monster World, but that no one would play with you because a lot of people who _did_ fell into comas and that there was a sale on today. All true, but he intends to take you out with him today to buy some Monster World equipment and to see a movie. He asked which of the ones currently showing I thought you'd enjoy. There's a comedy playing about a rich couple, the man having an affair with their maid, the woman having an affair with the pool boy, and the pool boy and the maid planning to steal from the couple that I thought you might like." I wasn't sure I liked the way Bakura'd planned to use me as a distraction like this, and some of that must have shown on my face. "He asked, I'm not really in a position to refuse to tell the man about his own son - although I did hint that he shouldn't _need_ me to tell him about you. I didn't plan on using you as a diversion, it just happened that way."

I believed him, but I couldn't resist the chance to tease Yami.

"And why shouldn't I let him know that you're using our father-son bonding expedition as a chance to get some boy between your legs?"

"D-do you think he'd trust me around you if you told him that?" My yami looked shocked at my joking about what he needed, and I could feel his fear through our bond.

"I'm sorry for scaring you, I was only teasing. Still..." I trailed off speculatively. I really didn't feel up to interacting with my father, or for pretending he knew me at all. And if I worried him too much he might decide not to go on his next expedition after all. I didn't want that, didn't want to have to deal with him _worrying_ about me or fussing over me the way my mother had before she died and the way my cousins had when I started getting weak again after that, before I got the Ring.

"What's in this for you? It depends what you want." I didn't like the tone of his voice, he was still scared and he shouldn't have been, not with how weak I was.

"Not much." I'd seen him in female form naked, and wearing boy's clothes, ill-fitting because he'd been wearing them before shape-shifting to female, but never really dressed as a girl, and I wanted to. "I just want to see you all dressed up for your date with Honda before you leave, and have a hand in getting you dressed up."

"You want to choose my clothes for me?"

"And see you looking like a girl." He bowed his head, lifting his hand to the Ring, I could see it trembling slightly and for a second I hated myself for making him react that way.

"Y-you didn't need to threaten me to get that. Do you want to see all the female clothes I have and choose then, or do you want to tell me the parameters of what to wear, and let me decide from there?"

"A compromise. I tell you what sort of thing I'd like to see you in and you show me what you've got that fits that." I reached out to take his other hand as I spoke. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you, just tease you, but I wanted to see you dressed like a girl in your female form."

"You already apologised once." -And you didn't even need to do that.- I don't think Bakura even realised he projected that along our bond. "What do you want me to wear then?"

"Do you have any high heels?" I was sure they'd do wonderful things to his legs.

"Nothing higher than one and a half inches." He shrugged when he saw my surprise. "I've only been female for Honda, and he gets off on the athletic type, heels don't do anything for him." That sounded odd, but if Bakura was sure...

"What about skirts?" If Honda didn't want Bakura wearing heels then...

"How long?" Eventually she ended up wearing black sandals with two inch spike heels, a long full black skirt and a dark red shirt, she didn't even contest one of my choices and I felt guilty about scaring her all over again. But it was _still_ worth it to see her like that.

00()00

I smiled at Honda as I emerged from the Shadow Realm, waiting to see his reaction to my outfit, since it was far more feminine than he usually wanted me in. The skirt and heels had actually been a gift from Seto, for a meeting he'd been expected to bring a date to, a female date, and he'd wanted someone who he could talk to on an equal level. Honda'd bought my perfume and chosen most of my other female clothes, he'd offered to pay for them too, but I had lots of money, and an easy way of getting more if I absolutely had to - or a number of comparatively easy ways anyway.

He gasped at the sight of me, looking me up and down appreciatively and I couldn't help but feel a bit resentful that he'd never looked at me like that when I was dressed to his specifications.

"Can you walk alright in those heels?" They were higher than I'd thought they were, but I certainly had the sense of balance needed to wear them.

"Yes, it won't be a problem. Did you have a lot of walking planned for today?"

"Have you ever been to an amusement park?"

"Not as more than a passenger in Yadonushi-sama's body." I shrugged in response, remembering the walking he'd done, and how hard he'd found it to balance on some rides, but he'd been denying his true self, his desire for death, so much and I didn't lie to myself as he did. "I'll be fine. But can we go to visit the Game Shop first please? Mutou-san told me he'd got the Exodia pieces I asked for in, so I need to speak to him. And...I don't want Ryou to know." I let myself blush as I mentioned Yadonushi-sama and Honda came to the obvious conclusion.

"A surprise gift for him then?"

"For his birthday. I had something else planned if Mutou-san couldn't find them in time, but it looks like I don't need to worry about that."

"You're not worried he'll expect something this expensive every time from now on?" But he did take my arm and start walking towards the Game Shop with me.

"I doubt it. And even if he did I can easily afford it. I have investments that give me an income equivalent to...I don't know, a mid-level salaryman's take-home pay, and I also have an annual income of at least six million Yen a year from healing people, usually a lot more." Honda whistled in surprise and appreciation. I suppose that since I didn't flaunt my money the way the Priest almost had to people didn't realise I had it. "Will you be expecting me to pay for our 'dates' once in a while now?" I smiled at him teasingly, wondering how he'd respond.

"No!" He sounded so outraged. "A gentleman always pays for his dates." I bowed my head, letting a faint flush show on my cheeks. It felt so good that the people I had to feed on were at least friendly to me, mostly, even if they didn't really trust me, and Honda treated me the way he would a real girlfriend, even though he didn't see me that way. "Here, we're at the Game Shop, let me hold the door for you." He was using that as an excuse to end the conversation, but I saw no harm in letting him do that. Was I supposed to say anything, or thank him? Better to err on the side of caution.

"Thank you." I only realised then how few people had seen me in my female form, seeing the way Mutou-san stood to greet me.

"Hello miss. How can I help you?" His smile was almost a leer, but not quite, and he was old enough that most women would dismiss him as 'harmless'. Besides, in _this_ country no one tried to stop men groping pretty young women on crowded subways, and even ten years back the primary qualification for an Office Lady had been a 'pretty face'.

"You can show me those Exodia pieces you told me you'd gotten for me."

"I'm sorry, miss? I've only told..." He trailed off, staring at me in rising disbelief. "Kurerunano-kun? I'd _heard_ you could...but..."

"You hadn't seen me like this? Most people haven't." Honda, Seto, Ryou and now him. "By the way, I want you to put them in some sort of presentation box after I inspect them. What? They're a _gift_!" The blank look he gave me when I asked for a presentation box was more than a little annoying, but he brought the cards out. They were both damaged, nothing that would keep them from being used in a duel, but enough to make them look less impressive. I'd half expected that though, the cards were for using, not for keeping hidden away to look at, and I'd worked out a spell to solve that little problem. I cast it while he was getting the presentation box out, and the old man didn't bother to question what I'd done...he was familiar enough with what Atemu was capable of, even if he didn't realise how many advantages I had over the Pharaoh.

"I won't charge you for the presentation box." For good reason in my opinion, even at only ten percent commission he was making a lot of profit from getting these for me. "Will you be taking them with you today?"

"No, not yet. I don't have anywhere to hide them. Keep them for me until the middle of August would you?"

"Of course. Do you have any other cards you want me to look out for?"

"Yes, actually I do. Give me a pen and some paper. Oh, and we need to negotiate your retainer. I was thinking fifty thousand Yen a month."

"Fifty thousand a week would be more reasonable."

"Fif_teen_ thousand a week more like." I smiled at him as he handed the pen and paper over to me.

"Forty thousand a week. You're asking me to take time from my business to do this for you." He did know a bit about haggling, even if this was pretty mild, and he seemed to be enjoying it as well.

"No, I'm not. Just to keep back these cards for me if you come across them. And you do get a finder's fee, one that mounts up, especially for some of the more expensive cards. Twenty thousand a week."

"I still have to check with your list every time I go on a trip or get new stock in. Thirty thousand a week."

"It shouldn't take that long, and as you get used to my tastes you'll probably know when there's a card I'll want that I just haven't heard of yet. Twenty-five thousand."

"Agreed."

I'll have the first week's payment transferred to the shop account tomorrow. Now I think I've made Honda wait long enough for our date." And with that I left the shop on Honda's arm.

00()00


	6. Chapter 6

I'd had to persuade my father to actually _go_ on his expedition a month after he got back to Japan. He'd never had a problem leaving me on my own before I reflected bitterly, not since I was ten years old - before that I'd stayed with my aunt and uncle, but then he got a position at a museum in Japan for a year, and he moved me to be with him and he decided that I was old enough and responsible enough to be left alone at eleven. Complaining aloud would have been counterproductive, so I'd vented at Bakura a _lot_ mentally, and he'd just taken it, without arguing with me, not really. Not until I 'screamed' at him through our link to say something, to act as if he was listening to me. His reaction had been enough to calm me down a bit, enough that I stopped venting at him anyway.

-This is the first time you've been 'ill' since you were seven. He thought after four years you weren't going to get ill again, and he did offer to send you back to England to live with your aunt and uncle back then. You said you wanted to stay in Japan, and you already did your share of the household chores. Now he has to worry about your health and he isn't really confident in my ability to help you.- I knew that it had to bother Bakura that my father thought so little of his ability to take care of me, but it didn't show through our link.

:I'd forgot about that. I didn't want to disrupt my studies too much, but then with all the fuss over my 'friends' ending up in comas...:

-I'm sorry about that, but...they were using you, you did know that?-

:For the homework sessions after and before our games, and for the set-up you financed, yes, I remember. They were always a bit reluctant to be around me outside of the games and homework.: And that had hurt, bringing up that memory, so I'd let the subject drop, and Bakura hadn't challenged it. At least I wasn't expected to see my father off at the airport now, before he'd always dragged me to the airport, to help him with his baggage among other things, and left me to get home by myself, or with the cab he'd used to get us there. But he _did_ expect us to be awake to see him off as he got everything into the cab, and it was hard to drag myself from my warm comfortable bed. In the end Bakura'd been the one who got me out of bed, and set my clothes out for me, while I ate the bowl of miso he'd brought to my bedroom for me.

"If you _don't_ get up and start acting like a normal person do you really think he won't call in to his expedition and say he's got a family emergency so he can stay with you?" Bakura hadn't looked at me when he finally stopped trying to pull me out of bed by force and turned to reasoning, but I could feel his fear across our link, hear the defeat in his voice. I didn't believe that my work to persuade my father to go away so we could live our lives without his ignorant oversight would be wasted if I didn't get up, but _Bakura_ obviously did. And Bakura was much better at manipulating people than I was, so I got up and ate half the bowl of miso he'd brought up, eating another quarter of the bowl when he urged me to eat more.

"Do you want me to help you get down the stairs safely?" For some reason that simple, concerned question made me angry, and I snapped at him in response.

"Do I _look_ that helpless? I'm still perfectly capable of moving around under my own power. I _never_ got that bad before." He flinched at my anger, not violently, but he looked down to the ground and turned his head to one side, pushing his hair back to expose his throat in a frighteningly erotic gesture.

I found myself transfixed by that pale triangle of flesh, until he moved, freeing me to move as well. I grabbed his shoulder, surprised that I could, and he glanced up at me.

"What do you wish Yadonushi-sama?"

"I...I want to be with you." He looked confused about how to respond and I quickly continued. "I know. I can't risk it, it would be too dangerous to me. But I can still dream, can't I?" My question was bitter and rhetorical, but he answered me.

"Of course you can, although to do so is to feed a hunger you cannot sate as you are. I wish you'd just _think_..." He trailed off, but I didn't have the slightest idea what he was getting at, then he turned, taking my bowl back to the kitchen and leaving me to dress by myself.

When I got down I saw that my father was speaking to Bakura, but my yami looked a bit trapped, back against the wall, as my father spoke.

:Do you need any help there:

-No, he just wants to give some last minute orders about taking care of you.-

:I'm _not_ that helpless Bakura.: It wasn't fair to snap at Bakura, even mentally, and I knew that. It was my father I was angry with...and suddenly something crystallised, the oddities in how my father interacted with my yami made sense when I thought about _what_ he was.

"Stop trying to molest my friend father." My voice was cold, and he flinched away from Bakura.

"What...I wasn't!"

"That's what it looked like. And you've accused him of being a whore before. How long do you have until you have to check in at the airport?"

"Three hours. I don't want to leave when we're arguing."

"We're not arguing, just be careful in future."

"Do you need help with your bags Dr. Bakura?" Bakura's quiet question was enough of a distraction that we managed to get the cab packed before my father turned back to me.

"I'll ring you as often as I can and e-mail you once a week. Be careful okay?"

"Yes father." I was _not_ going to say _any_thing to my yami about what I'd surmised so we just went back into the house and I curled up on the couch to get some more sleep.

00()00

I'd hoped that with our arriving on the first day of the school year we wouldn't have to introduce ourselves, but the teacher pulled me and Atemu to the front of the classroom along with the other two new pupils without so much as asking first. It hadn't occurred to me that I should check on how well he'd done in the tests, but I had a feeling he'd only just passed if he was in this class. Of course for the single week the Priest had spent going to a normal high school he'd been in this class as well, and Ryou was bright enough to do better, even if he got distracted a lot.

Apparently we were to introduce ourselves in the Western alphabetical order of our surnames. That made me the second to introduce myself.

"Kurerunano Bakura." Both names written in hiragana, rather than kanji. "Born in Egypt. Don't know what the village is called." A lie, but one that would be believed. "Spent most of my life in Alexandria. I like puzzles." I'd given them enough information, more than they needed. I wasn't going to say anything else, and I made my way over to Ryou, to Ryou and the seat I'd asked Honda to hold open for me, since I doubted my hikari would do so himself. The teacher was watching me, along with everyone else, as I set my stuff up on my desk, including my most recent notes on classical Japanese. I couldn't get my books out to work on it from them, but I thought I'd pinned down one of the patterns of change, and that would help me a lot. I was lucky, languages were one of the things heccubi are very good at, we can learn them to the point of thinking in them a lot more easily than any human, and most demons can, the better to please a lover who speaks a language new to us. Shinigami don't have the same advantage, their powers are very much focused on death and on battle, language acquisition plays no part in that.

"Mutou Atemu." The Pharaoh hadn't been happy about having to use his true given name, but he'd accepted it when Yugi looked up at him with those pleading eyes. He was using hiragana for his personal name, but kanji for Mutou, good, Yugi'd rehearsed him well. I had to admit to being surprised he knew enough kanji to actually pass those tests, but it didn't make a difference to me. "I was born in Alexandria, and I recently moved here to be with my grandfather, uncle, aunt and cousin. I'm a big Duel Monsters fan, and I duel myself, even if I didn't have the chance to enter any tournaments." Under his own name. I smiled at that particular lie, it was amusing to see someone else being lauded for what was at _least_ half the Pharaoh's work, especially since he could never claim any credit for it.

:Yami, please don't say whatever it is that's making you so amused.: Ryou seemed weary, already, and I half turned towards him, ignoring the teen making his way over to sit on the seat Yugi'd saved for him, in favour of checking his condition. He wasn't in any worse condition than he had been when we left, and that left him with enough energy to sit and listen to what the teacher was saying, making notes as needed.

-I won't start a fight, not if it bothers you Yadonushi-sama.- I wasn't going to anyway, but if a few words reassured Ryou enough for him to relax, releasing an almost imperceptible tension then I'd give him that reassurance. Besides, I didn't think we'd have any time to fight, during the lessons at least, and especially Atemu, no matter what method he used to take notes. I was half tempted to use hieroglyphs myself, but even if they were the form of writing most natural to me they took too long to write.

It was history first, recent history, by my standards at least. The teacher was talking about how the Tokugawa Shogunate came into existence and I made copious notes on what she told us. It was an interesting example of politics in action, and that was how I saw it, focusing on the politics, the manipulation that all Children of Desire learned swiftly, while Ryou would probably do better by focusing on the process of conquest carried out to create the Shogunate. It had worked for the duels anyway, and he was born to lead armies and be the champion of nations, even if he didn't know it, even if in this time wars were no longer settled that way, could no longer hinge on a single warrior. I couldn't let myself think about that, about the difference between what Ryou was supposed to be and what he _was_, he didn't want to acknowledge it, so _I_ couldn't do anything to acknowledge it, or suggest that he should.

We were supposed to discuss the topic together once we'd got all the notes down, a class wide discussion, and that bothered me a bit. It didn't seem like the best way of gauging how well people had understood the material, or of exploring it in more depth, or even of establishing any background knowledge the class might already have. The slower pupils would be holding the brighter ones back, and in _this_ class I had a feeling that the brighter pupils would be leery of showing their knowledge in front of the whole class, for fear of their friends making fun of them.

Still, I tried to contribute, without showing how much better I understood than everyone else here did, and I tried to get others to say something, to fill the silences. I didn't know most of the class, but I tried my best to make comparisons to the one thing I knew most people here were aware of...Duel Monsters. I didn't do very well, and for a moment I fiercely hated Tendo-sensei for making me do her job for her.

00()00

I'd known Bakura was a genius, how else would he have learned enough about computers in the first year he'd shared my body to hack into that paedophile's accounts and transfer the money to a new account for himself? But I hadn't understood all the implications of that, or how good he was at _teaching_ as well, especially since he'd never actually bothered to teach me, just transferred the knowledge directly into my brain. The comparisons he made between Duel Monsters and the creation of the Tokugawa Shogunate weren't really accurate...at all accurate to be honest, but they got the others interested in the subject, and got _me_ thinking in terms of the battles fought to create the new government.

Looking over at Atemu I could tell that he'd understood the background and context _much_ better than everyone else had, including Yugi, but he wasn't saying anything. He'd left it to Yami to do that, to draw attention by leading the discussion, and I felt a flash of hatred at him for doing that. I glared at him, and he had the gall to look surprised, but _I_ wasn't doing any more to help Bakura than he was, and so I fought through my lassitude to ask a question about the logistics behind the campaigns integral to establishing the Shogunate. Directed vengefully at Tendo-sensei and Atemu, it was enough to silence Bakura, enough that he wilted in his seat, waving a hand as if to tell everyone to go on without his participation. I pushed the notes on his personal project towards him, and he took the hint, focusing on his notes, and letting the discussion carry on without his participation, or mine.

"Kurerunano-kun! What is it that is distracting you from the class discussion?"

"From doing your job you mean, Tendo-sensei. I am attempting to learn how to read classical Japanese without using any true primers for the language, because it is an interesting study. The headmaster has approved of this, and I feel I have contributed more than enough to this superficial discussion of the material you attempted to teach. If you wish it I can write an essay analysing the how the economic and political situation allowed the Tokugawa Shogunate to be established, but I expect you to assign the same task to the rest of the class...and to actually mark them and give proper feedback." The contempt in his voice was cutting, and Tendo-sensei opened her mouth to respond, before she visibly realised who she was talking to, and remembered what he'd arranged.

"You are nowhere near ready to perform that sort of analysis. I realise you cannot be expected to have civilised manners, but do your classmates the basic courtesy of paying attention to the discussion."

"I am giving the discussion all the attention it deserves Tendo-sensei. If at any point you doubt that feel free to direct a _relevant_ question to me. Now, why don't you get back to your job?" She flinched at that, visibly, and I knew that the others would take advantage of her show of weakness. But I didn't really care...she'd been taking advantage of my yami, the way I had for so long, and hearing him put her down was fun.

Except the lesson ended just then, and she seized the opportunity to virtually flee the classroom. Bakura paid more attention to our next lesson, maths, but not much. He didn't really _need_ to pay much attention to be absolutely honest, this was all stuff he'd learned a long time ago; if all that mattered was the sciences he could have got a place at any university without any real effort. He was only at this school, in this class, because he felt he needed to be with me, to protect me.

And Haruka-sensei didn't demand that we talk about what we were doing, just that we pay attention when he was showing us the examples, and then do all the problems he assigned us, either in class, or later. So he didn't even notice when Bakura finished his math problems and switched to his notes on classical Japanese. I was probably the second one finished, simply because I refused to give in to my weakness since Bakura'd gone to so much trouble for me, and once I'd finished I could get some rest.

:Bakura, do the teachers know about my...problems:

-Yes. Before you woke me everyone thought it was an illness, a unique, mysterious illness, and it's been documented. It was only a matter of convincing everyone that you'd had a relapse. There _are_ physical signs anyway, not much, but a slightly heightened white cell count for one and some prions that no one else has, among other things. The prions would be wrong for a human anyway, and your muscle structure's off a little, and so's the density, but you have more 'unique' prions now than you did while I was sharing your body along with some hormones that you seem to be almost immune to.-

:Why do you say that: I leaned back in my chair, shutting my eyes and relaxing while I listened to Yami.

-Because I tested those hormones recently.- So that was what he'd wanted that blood sample for. -I used Shadow Magic to separate them out from your blood and injected each hormone and combination of hormones that humans don't have into some mice in Kaiba's lab. The concentration of each hormone in the mice's blood was less than a tenth that in yours, and all of the mice turned...very aggressive. Your strength of will is awesome.- He was hinting at something, but I really didn't want to know.

:Wake me up when we start something new.:

00()00

I'd been told that I was to report to the headmaster immediately after lunch, since that was when the rest of the class would be studying English. At least I'd be learning new things there, and working nearer to my full capacity on one thing instead of splitting my attention and only using half my capacity in total, but it bothered me a bit not to be with Ryou in case he needed me. On the other hand I would be leaving him with people who would protect him, now that he was so 'ill' anyway, even if they hadn't treated him that well before.

"You didn't bring anything for lunch, did you?"

"No, and I can't be bothered to get something in the canteen." Ryou looked oddly languid for what he was; he'd only left the classroom with the others because I'd dragged him out, and asked if Yugi and Atemu would sit with us.

"Then here, I packed extra in case you needed it." When I'd tried to swear off sex I'd found that I couldn't be bothered with eating after a while and I thought I'd seen signs of the same thing in Ryou earlier. I opened my bento, placing it between us, and waiting for him to take his pick of the ten onigiri before I took my own. He only picked one up, so I spent as much time encouraging him to eat more as on conversing with the others - easy enough since they didn't really want to talk to me. I only managed to get him to eat three of the onigiri, but that was enough for a meal at least and it didn't bother me that Jounouchi and Honda swung by and grabbed the last three when they saw I was ready to put the bento away.

It would be better to arrive early for my lesson with the headmaster, than to risk being late and lose the privileges I'd arranged for myself.

"I take it you want me to go to the Game Shop with you after school Yugi?"

"Please," He smiled in pleasure and anticipation, not that surprising that he'd want to be with me despite his opinion of my morals considering my nature. "do you think you'll be able to get home afterwards in time for tea?"

"I doubt that will be a problem Yugi." I laughed at the idea, tossing my head back as I stood. After all I'd likely be the one cooking our meal, since Ryou didn't have any interest in doing so. It was one of the skills expected of a Child of Desire anyway and so I'd learned to cook a long time ago and cooking with these modern stoves was much easier than it had been with what was available in Kuru Eruna. -You will be able to get home by yourself without problems, won't you Yadonushi-sama?- That was the only problem with my plan for feeding today, the possibility that Ryou would have difficulty getting home alone.

"I can come and distract your family if you want anyway. It's not like there's anyone at home to worry about us." It was as good as admitting he wouldn't be able to get home by himself, but...as long as he understood that...

"Sure, you're welcome to come visit. I think Jiisan's got some new occult type cards, they're your favourite, aren't they?"

"Yeah, speaking with and through death..." His voice was ever so slightly wistful and there was a dreamy smile on his face. I'd always appreciated his fascination with the occult and with death, it had been the only sign I'd had that he really was a shinigami, that I wasn't deluding myself sometimes. I smiled at him, at them all, and stood.

"I should get to my lessons with the headmaster. I'm not sure if Uchiha-sensei wants me to learn Ancient Greek or Latin first, or if he's planning on teaching me the two subjects together, or something else altogether." And so I hadn't been able to prepare for this in advance.

"You don't need to go yet." I hadn't expected _Atemu_ to object to my leaving...unless he was hoping I'd get in trouble for being late, or even just wanted to leer at me some more.

"I'm not going to risk being late. I only tested out of English really, so that's a limit on the time I have available for this." I frowned at Ryou then. "You could have tested out of English too, if you wanted to Ryou."

"Why bother?" He had a point, Ryou hadn't actually encountered the English literature they were expected to study, and he didn't read as fast, or as eagerly as I did. And now he'd probably be reluctant to even put the effort into reading, better for him to put whatever energy he was willing to use towards homework and avoid trying to anything extra.

"Should I help you back to the classroom first Yadonushi-sama? It isn't as if there's anything you want to do that you can't do there?"

"You don't need to do that. We'll make sure he gets back to class okay." Yugi was exuberant about the prospect of looking after someone else, and I looked to Ryou to see what he wanted.

"Go ahead, I'll be fine." I didn't like it, but it wasn't as if I could say no to him. I bit my lip lightly, planning out my route to avoid the bullies before I left.

I was early, but not too early, and Uchiha-sensei let met in early, handing me a piece of paper with a phrase written on it, in Roman lettering.

"Read that aloud, and then translate as well as you can." It did look vaguely similar to Italian and I read the sentence, glancing at him to see how my pronunciation was.

"Do you want a translation that's as accurate as I can manage, or one that's better grammatically in Japanese?"

"Do both." I obeyed, but I wasn't happy about it, and I was sure my translation was pretty shaky.

"You did well, Latin is closer to Italian than Cantonese is to Mandarin, far closer. You made a few errors in pronunciation, but I think that I can just give you a vocabulary list and a book of grammar rules and with a few exercises you should be fluent without much difficulty. We'll focus on Ancient Greek, starting with the alphabet."

00()00


	7. Chapter 7

I refused to accept the wordless offer of support that Bakura was made as we walked to Yugi's home. I wasn't _that_ weak, not yet anyway, and it was just a short walk once we'd got off the train.

"Kurerunano-san." I didn't like the formality Mutou-san used with Bakura, it was so different from the informality he insisted on with the rest of us - to the point of insisting that we call him Jiisan - and so in response _I_ made a point of being formal with him myself. He seemed to have noticed that, but he _hadn't_ understood my reasons, even if it didn't bother Bakura that he was being singled out like that it bothered me. I mean even _Kaiba_, the cold businessman who'd build a theme park for the sole purpose of killing Yugi merited a -kun, but _Bakura_ didn't? Bakura had helped Yugi _far_ more than Kaiba had, and he'd had much better reason to go after the Millennium Items than Kaiba had for his actions - giving rest to the souls of his people, as opposed to soothing wounded pride. "We've got your Dark Necrophia in stock now. Did you want a box to keep your deck in as well? Considering the size of your order..."

"No, that won't be necessary Mutou-san." Bakura twisted to pull a ebony box out of his bag - I knew that he'd created it using Shadow Magic, but that wasn't apparent, so he'd made it look like as much of an antique as the gold box Yugi kept _his_ extra cards in. "Just give me the cards please." I thought he was being too polite to the old man, but he'd told me that he saw Mutou-san in the same light he'd seen the less honest merchants back in Egypt. The ones who weren't above dealing in slaves they'd captured by ambushing other merchant caravans on the road. The box was the perfect size for Bakura to store his cards inside, even with the red velvet lining it he could fit them into the box in three piles side by side and he quickly sorted them by type.

"Thank you. Yugi mentioned that you had some new occult type cards? I think Yadonushi-sama might enjoy looking at them while I go somewhere private to work out my deck."

"Come on, I'll show you where you can work. Do you need some paper as well, to make notes or something?"

"That might help Yugi. Thank you." I smiled as I watched the small teen lead my yami away. His docility since he'd regained his own body still had the power to surprise me, but I pushed that thought away, since I had to make sure Mutou-san didn't realise Yugi was still with him.

"By the way Atemu, when are you going to let Bakura cleanse the evil from the rest of the Millennium Items? So far he's been able to do three, Shadi has two, and he'll only answer to you, and you keep the last two, even if you never touch them." I wouldn't have said anything, except I could sense my yami's constant low-level pain at the knowledge that some of the souls of his people were still suffering, and there was nothing I'd allow him to do.

"What are you talking about Bakura-kun?" I stiffened at the way the old man addressed me and the astonishment in his voice.

"If you are going to be formal with my yami then I expect you to be equally formal with me. Are we clear on that Mutou-san?" I didn't know why his unthinking insult to Yami had set me off, and made me angry enough to actually do something, but it had and I wasn't going to back down.

"Very clear Bakura-san. But you haven't answered my question."

"The Millennium Items were created by genocide of course, how could they be anything but evil? Bakura found a way to remove the evil from them, that's why he was trying to collect them all, and I agree with his assessment that any price was worth it to set his people's souls at rest. Oh, you didn't want to acknowledge that you handed an ancient evil over to your grandson, giving it power over him, did you Mutou-san?"

"And who told you all of this? Do you really think that tomb robber is a reliable witness?"

"He's already proven that by the age of seven he knew more about Shadow Magic than your precious Atemu ever learned. And he can't lie to me, our link prevents that."

"That much is true Jiisan. I cannot lie to Yugi, any more than he can lie to me, and if my link with him works as Ryou's link with Bakura does then nor can Bakura lie to Ryou." So he _could_ think after all. Not that I was going to say that aloud, not since he was actually supporting me, and indirectly supporting Bakura. On the other hand...

"You haven't answered my question Atemu."

"What? Can you promise me that he won't try to steal the Millennium Items if I let him try that spell on them?" I wasn't going to interrupt him to check, but he'd said that he only wanted to free the souls of his people, and that in Egypt he'd thought the only option was to destroy the Millennium Items or he'd have found a way to cleanse them without going to the bother of actually stealing them.

"Yes, I can. He only ever wanted to get his hands on them for long enough to cast that spell, at least since he learned it."

"What about Pegasus? You never said how he got the Eye from him? Didn't he kill for it?" I shouldn't have been surprised by Jounouchi's attitude.

"Are any of you going to claim that the bastard deserved the Eye? And Bakura didn't kill him, he just challenged him for the Eye, and Pegasus lost."

00()00

I'd known that Yadonushi-sama would be powerful if he ever stopped denying what he was, but I hadn't expected him to defend me as if I belonged to him, not yet anyway. Or to argue to get me what I needed to grant my people, the people I would always feel that I'd failed, rest. But as I learned later he _had_, and it even seemed to have helped his condition a little, not much, but he wasn't looking as tired as I'd come to expect him to be by this time of day when I came back from pleasing Yugi.

Atemu immediately left the room, and I joined Ryou in looking through the new occult cards, asking if there were any he'd recommend to me, because I knew I couldn't leave at once, that would have been suspicious. And Ryou did turn out to have some pretty good ideas about what cards I might like, even if they weren't entirely what I might have chosen without his influence. He wasn't aware of the strategies I favoured, not really, even though he'd seen me use them from inside my head, they were too manipulative to come naturally to him. But I thought I could build a new secondary strategy around the cards he suggested, cards that made good 'champions' or good support for champions, so it wasn't a loss.

"Here." I couldn't think of anything to say when he thrust the Millennium Necklace and Millennium Rod at me, so I just raised an eyebrow. "I can't sense any difference in the Puzzle from that spell you cast, and Ryou convinced me that it's important to you, even if there isn't any real effect, so you can cast the same spell on these, as long as you do it _now_."

"You really can't sense the difference?" I'd always thought the difference would be obvious since I'd learned how to cleanse the evil from those things, Ryou could sense it even though he was still pretending to be just human as hard as he possibly could, but apparently only demons sensed the pure evil surrounding those cursed things. Humans must not be sensitive enough or something like that, and I dismissed the issue, rather than ponder that particular wrinkle.

"There _isn't_ a difference, not to anyone but you or Ryou. But I _saw_ you cast those two spells on the Puzzle, and you didn't do any harm." I didn't like his dismissal of our perceptions, but it didn't really matter as long as I got the chance to set my people to rest. I put the Necklace to one side as I cradled the Rod in my hands, focusing my mind and heart on my need to free the souls of my people to move on, whether to reincarnation, or to whatever afterlife would accept them, and channelled the purest Shadow Magic I could, freeing their souls. If it hadn't been right after I'd been with Yugi I don't think that I _could_ have cast the spell again on the Millennium Rod, and afterwards I felt light headed, almost as if I would faint, and I recognised the warning signs from Egypt. At least I wouldn't annoy Yadonushi-sama again by offering to help him back to his house, I was too exhausted to risk making the offer, in fact I wished there was someone who could help _me_ get home.

I sighed and tapped into the Shadow Realm, drawing energy from it, even knowing that doing so was a temporary expedient at best. I couldn't get as much energy from the Shadow Realm as I'd just used to free my people's souls, and my body didn't respond to or retain that energy as well as it did the energy I got sexually. Atemu looked shocked by my actions, without any reason, and he called his own Shadow magic defensively.

"Relax, I just used up a bit too much energy doing that. Now at least there's only two Items I need to cleanse. Yadonushi-sama, I think we should leave soon, it takes a while to prepare a meal after all, and we don't have anyone at home to cook for us." I turned to the old man, and paid for my new cards, as well as the ones Ryou had chosen while he picked up his bag and we left.

"Do we really need to get home now? I'm not that hungry, and we can always order something in, can't we?" At least he hadn't protested before we left, although it _did_ surprise me that he didn't just want to get home so he could go to sleep or something.

"There's that, but I want to get home while w-you still have the energy to do your homework." He didn't catch my slip, or at least it didn't seem that he had and I was grateful for that, my purpose was to take care of him after all. We took far longer than I would have liked to get home, and I couldn't blame that on Ryou, because if _I_ hadn't been so exhausted I'd have been able to offer to carry his bag, or force a faster pace. And then there was the problem of a pair of thugs we almost ran into. I knew that I wasn't up to protecting Ryou, and that he wouldn't realise that _he_ could protect me, so I made sure we hid before they saw us, and that cost us more time.

Once we got back I set up a simple stew, something I could just leave to simmer while I did my own homework, and asked Ryou to do his own while I did mine, even knowing that he'd take longer. Except he didn't, because I was helping him when he had problems, the way I was used to doing. While we were eating I frantically tried to figure out a way to recover my energy, but I knew I was pushing the limits of what I could safely take from my 'friends', and so there was only one real option.

Ryou didn't question it when I left the house, and went hunting, looking for a paedophile, focusing my magic to draw one to me in my child's form, since paedophiles and rapists were the only people I was comfortable killing that way.

00()00

Bakura'd prepared a somewhat more Western breakfast when I came down from bed, bacon, egg-fried toast, and a huge fried mushroom were laid out for me, and he was _kneeling_ beside the table.

"Bakura, what?" I couldn't believe the way he was behaving, and I didn't understand _why_ he was doing that.

"Yadonushi-sama, will you make a promise to me?" He hesitated then added a single word before pressing his head to the floor. "Please."

"Get up Bakura!" My voice was harsh with shock, and my yami rose to his knees immediately, then set his jaw and _stayed_ like that.

"Sit down and start eating, I'm staying here until you've made that promise and given me some sign you'll abide by it." He was trembling faintly, and I could feel his fear through our link, and that was enough to make me do as he asked. I took a bite of the bacon before saying anything to him, because I had the feeling that would make him feel better, even though I wasn't very interested in eating at the moment.

"What do you want me to promise?"

"That you'll _eat_ what I prepare for you. It won't be enough to make you throw up or anything, but please, you're starting to lose weight, and at least if you eat l-normally, or close to normally, your condition won't deteriorate quite so fast."

"I..." That wasn't a promise I could make, and I didn't know how to say that to him, not when he sounded so _desperate_ for me to agree. "I can promise to _try_, nothing more. Will that be enough?"

"It will have to be, won't it?" Bakura stood, head bowed slightly, a slight bitterness in his voice. I felt guilty for putting that there, but at least he was standing, and it was only then that I realised there were no dirty dishes, just the dirty pans he'd used.

"What about you? Have you eaten anything today?" He looked shocked that I'd asked. Had I given him reason to believe I didn't care about him or something?

"No, I forgot. There's a good reason, and it's why I'm going to ask everyone if they can deal with taking a week long break from the schedule, to let them recover a bit, but eating helps reduce my need to feed." I didn't want to know what that 'good reason' was, I really didn't, but I'd seen how much everyone was obsessed with bedding Yami.

"Do you think the others will like that idea? I mean they all want you so much..." Bakura was breaking two eggs into a bowl and beating them with salt and pepper as I spoke and he moved on to filling the frying pan as he replied.

"I know, but...you know that I'm feeding on them, draining their energy every time I satisfy them sexually. My kind _kill_ humans if we feed that way too often for too long, and it's a slow lingering death."

"I thought that you had enough lovers that you didn't need to worry about that so much." Not that he'd ever explicitly discussed how he fed with me, but I was pretty sure that he would have said something if he had reason to worry about our friends before now. Bakura glanced over at me before he responded, then he frowned when he realised I wasn't eating. I hurriedly cut another bite of the egg-fried toast and began to chew it before he could say anything about my breaking my promise already. That seemed to be enough to let him relax a bit as he slid the first slices of toast done out of the frying pan and onto his plate, adding some more slices to the pan.

"I'm not entirely certain about that. I _think_ I can manage without hurting them, at least while they're all so young, but...this was never covered in my education, it was assumed that I'd end up belonging to a demon powerful enough not to worry about that, and there isn't any useful information in the Ring either. Most heccubi either belong to a powerful demon, or feed on lots of humans and often kill them anyway. I don't think there's any records of what I'm trying to do." He looked just a little lost as he explained that, then he cut a bite of his toast, chewing on that as he continued working on his meal. I shouldn't have been surprised that he cared more about humans than most of his kind did, he'd put himself through hell to free the souls of his kin, even if they had been human, and he'd never been as uncaring about human life as Atemu had, even if the Pharaoh didn't want to acknowledge that.

"I'm sure you'll be able to cope, and you'll _know_ if you're hurting them. Have you seen any signs of that?"

"No, I haven't." He sounded a lot more cheerful when he realised that, and I was glad to have made him feel better about doing what he had to so he could survive. He finished putting his food onto his plate, a bit larger than my own I realised and far more crowded, and came to sit opposite me, eating swiftly, but still neatly, something vaguely sensual about his actions. "You aren't eating Yadonushi-sama." His voice was quiet, no accusation in it, just a little disappointment, but there didn't need to be, his disappointment cut more and I began eating again, taking a few bites before I said anything else.

"What about those tricks you said could be used to draw power from the Shadow Realm?" He'd mentioned that as an alternate source of power after all.

"They were great for providing me with power when I was still a spirit, and I thought they'd work as well now, but they don't. I can't retain that power for very long, although it works fine for me to draw on it and then use it all in healing someone instead of using my own power. But...I might be able to teach some of our friends how to use that trick, so they can draw power before..." His voice fell away as he mused on his new idea, and I felt confident enough to press on one matter.

"Then you won't tell the others that they have to give you up for a week?"

"If you say I shouldn't." He looked a little resigned, then he smiled as he looked at my plate. "I knew you could finish what I'd given you. Do you want some more?" I just shook my head, and he looked upset again. "Will you try to get in some sort of argument some time today? I think it might help you a little."

"I'll try." If that was the price for him not refusing my friends...

00()00

I made a point of leaving Ryou to talk with his friends by himself during the lunch break, since I was sure he'd eat the sushi I'd prepared for him this time at least, especially since I'd given the bento to him in front of his friends. He seemed to understand that I was feeling sort of crowded by him and his friends, since he'd _persuaded_ me I wasn't harming them by bedding them so often. Of course that wasn't the only reason I wanted to be away from them, I also wanted to establish enough of a reputation as a fighter that I'd be left alone mostly, and I wouldn't be able to do that hanging around him, since most people left them alone now. Besides, even if Ryou didn't notice, I was well aware that I was just barely tolerated, and more because of what a great lay I was than any other reason, the others didn't really care about me the way they cared about each other, and they even tended to exclude Ryou a little.

"Eating all alone pretty one?" Not very original, I scowled up at the teen, he wasn't even one of the more dangerous or well-known bullies, but dealing with him would do for a first step.

"Yes, I wish it so. Now leave." I didn't really expect him to, so it was no surprise when he insisted on sitting beside me, putting his arm around my waist.

"I'm sure you don't _really_ want to be left all alone. You're so _gorgeous_." I set my bento aside and tried to move his arm without hurting him, but when that didn't work I went for a nerve cluster at the inside of his elbow. He screamed and pulled away from me, and I smiled at him cruelly.

"I said I wasn't interested in company, now I will give you one last chance to leave." He was weak enough that he didn't question that, just nodded, and ran away from me, leaving me to get one with my meal. At least the next idiot who came after me would be stronger, and dealing with him would give me more of a reputation.

But that wouldn't happen just yet I thought which left me with the problem of what to do now. It was easy when I was with Ryou of course, all I had to do then was give him my company and do whatever else he wanted or needed of me, but now I didn't have anything with me to entertain myself, and the idea of going back to the classroom to work on my homework early or on figuring out classical Japanese wasn't appealing for some reason. But when I thought about it I realised that even though doing my homework now would free me up to help Ryou more it would also make him more reluctant to do his, I had a feeling that it was only because I'd been doing mine at the same time that I'd succeeded in having him do his homework yesterday. I hadn't had any _real_ practice with my knife for far too long though, and the way I felt at the moment I could easily afford to waste energy on a spell to find someone to spar with.

I went with my impulse, setting the parameters of my Shadow Magic searching spell as narrowly as I could, someone who could face me with a knife without putting me or any other in danger, someone who _would_ do so, without asking any price I would be unwilling to pay, and someone inside the school grounds. If no one fitted those criteria...and no one did, so the spell just dissipated instead of guiding me to the one who satisfied my requirements. I shrugged mentally and pulled out the cards I'd selected to make up my deck for now, pulling it from its thinly carved 'ivory' box and unwrapping the cards from the virgin silk I used to shield them from magic of any sort. I needed to attune the cards to my magic, Shadow and Heccubus alike, and this would be the best time to do so, while it was still strong, and the Heccubus aspect freshly fed so I could devote more energy to calling Shadow Magic. I'd connected my deck to the rest of my cards when I selected it as well, using a spell I'd worked out a few weeks ago, so all my cards would become more attuned to my magic as my deck became more so. Just _holding_ my deck, and letting my magic flow around it, letting it bathe in my aura strongly enough to cut it off from all other influences was helping to attune it, but there was more I could do, and so I made my way into the school building, looking for the classroom dedicated to duelling during students' free time.

I didn't bother to approach any of the students already there for a duel, if they wished to duel me they could easily do so simply by asking, and duelling would not do so much to attune my cards to my magic as other options would. I shut my eyes and began shuffling my deck, then laid it out across the table in an almost random pattern, determined by what felt best to my magic at the time. When I opened my eyes I saw they were all face down, and began turning them over one by one, again as my magic guided me, focusing the while on the thought of the future with no end in sight. I couldn't interpret everything, or even most of it, but I could see there were spots where the pattern faltered because I hadn't possessed the right card or just not had _enough_ cards in my deck for this, and there were some indications that I'd succeed in my aim to free the souls of my people bound to the final two Millennium Items and that I'd belong to a powerful, but strange, demon eventually.

"Do you want to duel with me?" It was just a kid, but it would be suspicious to refuse, so I agreed and duelled first him, then others until we had to get back to class.

00()00


	8. Chapter 8

"What's up with Bakura today?" Jounouchi was the one who actually asked the question, not Atemu as I'd expected, and it was _far_ later than I'd expected the subject to come up. "He doesn't usually leave you alone like that, and there's something weird about the way he's acting."

He had a point, Bakura usually only left me if I was at _home_ or if it was absolutely necessary, and even then he usually made sure that someone had accepted responsibility for taking care of me, if he left me with my friends. But I _really_ didn't like the air of...I don't know, disregard that Jounouchi had when he was talking about Yami. On the other hand, I hadn't quite finished the sushi he'd prepared for me, and I had promised to try to finish what he gave me - and arguing with my friends would probably destroy what little appetite I had.

"He almost looks sexier than he usually does, and he's a hot number even when he isn't trying to look good." I hated the lust in Atemu's voice directed at Bakura, even though my yami had allowed the Pharaoh to fuck him, and his next words made me furious, giving me motivation to eat faster, so I could make my opinion of his attitude clear. "A great fuck, even if he's a murdering little bastard."

"That isn't entirely fair mou hitori no boku. Ryou made it clear yesterday that Bakura was desperate to collect the Millennium Items so he could free the souls of his kin, not for their own sake, and _you'd_ kill to protect me, wouldn't you? But he seems to have more energy today. Do you know why, Ryou?"

"No..." Would it be a good idea to let them know what I'd promised him? Probably not, or at least not the details. "Except that I made a promise that might have relieved some of the stress he's under since he thinks he has to take care of me." I hated that he was right, Yami _did_ have to take care of me, but Yugi's defence of Yami had calmed my anger at Atemu's attitude. Pity, that would have let me keep my _other_ promise, especially since Yami was the only thing I still cared about enough to argue over.

"So, does that mean you'll be eating properly without needing Bakura to urge you on in future? If he's so worried about your eating habits there has to be a serious problem." And now Anzu had reignited my anger, they'd always ignored what Yami did for me, even the things they knew about. Some of that anger was self-directed too, _I'd_ never bothered making sure they understood just how much he went out of his way to make my life easier and safer, even with what he saw as necessary risks I'd never really been endangered.

"Yes, there _is_ a serious problem. I was chronically ill _before_ I got the Ring, no one could tell why, except for my having really weird blood work. One of the symptoms is a loss of appetite, when Bakura was sharing my body he used his magic to keep me healthy, making the doctors think my 'Bakura's Disease' was in remission. Guess what happened now that I _don't_ have a personal healer possessing me and working spells to help me damn near 24-7? That's right my illness has come back with a vengeance." Ryou scowled at the other teens. "Not that any of you would have bothered to notice that, you all just preferred to assume the worst of him without finding out any of the _facts_. I suppose finding out the facts would just get in the way of allowing your prejudices and assumptions free rein after all."

"But he was stealing the souls of your friends, to use in his sick games."

"It was no more out of proportion for their offences than _your_ Penalty Games against people who hurt your precious aibou were Atemu. He showed me the _exact_ details of the spell he used on my 'friends', if they _hadn't_ been using me, and if I hadn't recognised that on some level _nothing_ would have happened to them."

"The people who hurt aibou _deserved_ to suffer."

"I'm not saying they didn't. Just that the punishments you inflicted were at _least_ as out of proportion as the punishments Bakura inflicted on the people who were using me." I didn't give him any chance to wriggle out of acknowledging the truth, just looked at him levelly, waiting for him to respond, so that I could cut his rationalisations down if he tried to make any, but pretty soon he couldn't meet my eyes and started to wriggle uncomfortably.

"Mou hitori no boku was being influenced by the Puzzle. And you insist that your Ring was _good_ then, so that doesn't explain Bakura's behaviour." I shouldn't have been surprised that it was _Yugi_ making excuses for Atemu, so I made one of my own for Bakura, even though I still didn't really feel that he'd been much in the wrong.

"No, but the fact that he's a demon does - demons have different ideas about proportionate punishment you know." I wasn't entirely certain about that, but then, on some level I almost believed the punishment _had_ been proportionate, crazy as that was. I shook my head to dismiss the issue. "We need to get back to class, or I do anyway. And I've satisfied _both_ of my promises to Bakura." I wasn't going to explain what either promise _was_ as I got up slowly, feeling a bit more energetic than I had when I'd sat down.

00()00

It had worked, I could tell that Ryou had quarrelled with someone as soon as I got back to the classroom, and he looked healthier for it, not by much but healthier. But his friends didn't look too happy with him, _or_ with me, and I wasn't sure how to change that. So I focused on the lesson, and on my personal project when that got too boring, ignoring the disapproving looks from the teacher, and answering the questions she asked to try and catch me out, to prove I didn't deserve the leeway I'd been given. I'd expected that, so it didn't bother me, as long as she was willing to teach the rest of the class, and work to their pace not mine I was happy with the teaching I was getting. But most of Ryou's friends weren't, not really, I could tell that the teacher was going too fast for them to really keep up, especially Atemu - he didn't have the background to really understand most of what we were learning, but then, that was to be expected. Given my supposed background _I_ should have been having as much trouble as he was, and the fact that I didn't was making me stand out as a 'genius', which thankfully helped to explain all the special treatment I was being given.

Jounouchi grabbed me as soon as the teacher'd left, pulling me over to where Yugi, Atemu, Anzu and Honda had gathered in a corner of the classroom.

"Was there something?" I made sure to look calm and collected, without letting any of my worry over Ryou show...they didn't seem to want him to hear this, and that could mean trouble for his relationship with them.

"Exactly _what_ promises did you get Ryou to make?" Anzu sounded concerned about him, so at least that was good, perhaps they just thought I was twisting him in some way, or trying to control him - a patent absurdity considering our respective power levels.

"First, to eat what I gave him, or at least try to eat it all. Eating will give him energy and that will keep him stronger for more time than if I let him just skip meals the way he would without me here to care for him. And secondly I asked him to try to get into an argument today, because I think that will also make his strength last longer. And it _worked_, I saw that today. Might I ask what he was arguing with you about?" Since I was pretty sure they'd only be excluding Ryou like this if they had argued with him.

"Are you going to try to make him argue with us more often then?" Anzu was ignoring my question, but I had to wonder if she was the spokeswoman as something they'd planned, because she was most likely to be polite to me, I didn't think she was pushy enough to take charge this way unless it had been prearranged.

"I don't know, because I don't have any feel for what he's willing to argue about without me in his mind to...focus his emotions and give him the energy to allow himself to feel fully. So, what was he arguing with you about?" I was going to keep on pushing this, if Ryou could get up the emotional energy to argue about enough things it might buy him a bit more time until he couldn't even leave the house.

"About you. He thinks we're not treating you fairly." I hadn't expected Honda to be the one who answered my question, let alone for him to have that odd look in his eyes that said maybe he agreed with Ryou. "He accused us of being hypocrites, of judging you by a different standard to the one we use with Atemu." I knew that something of what I was feeling had to be showing on my face, I'd never expected Yadonushi-sama to defend me like that, or for _me_ to be the thing he still cared about enough to actually argue over, even in his condition. Perhaps it meant he had more shinigami instincts than I'd given him credit for? And perhaps he'd want to make me his own if he ever started acting like a shinigami was supposed to? I was pretty sure it was a good sign anyway, for my twin hopes of getting him to care about me, and of getting him to acknowledge what he was.

"Then no, I won't be asking him to get into any more arguments. It sounds as if he can only muster the energy to argue with anyone over me, and I think it would do him more damage to destroy his friendship with you over me than to deal with the energy loss. And the arguments aren't enough to really make him healthy by themself." The humans didn't need to know what it would take to make Ryou healthy, they all had a squeamish streak, even if Atemu's was pretty recently developed. "But if you're going to be trying to keep up your friendship with him might I suggest you try not to criticise me too often. He seems to have become very protective of me." I let myself blush, lowering my eyes as I tried to persuade them to keep their peace with Ryou. "I won't push him to start any more arguments, but please don't provoke him."

They didn't have time to say anything else, because when I heard the teacher coming back I left them, making my way back to my desk.

:What was that about Bakura:

-They wanted to know about the promises you made. And I asked about your argument with them.- It could be seen as a betrayal of trust, but I wasn't stupid enough to lie to him, particularly not mind to mind. -I don't expect you to start any more arguments, and I asked them not to provoke you when it comes to me.-

:They weren't being fair to you.:

-I realise that, but you can't force them to change how they think. Focus on the lesson, you can't afford to get distracted.- And that was enough to get him to leave the subject alone for a while.

00()00

Bakura really was acting weird I had to admit as we made our way home. At the same time he was more energetic than usual and more...deferential for lack of a better word. _I_ felt better than I usually did by this time too, and the only thing I could attribute that to was the promise he'd extracted from me to eat what he prepared for me.

"How much of our homework did you get done in class?" I was pretty sure that had been one of the things he did while he was half-listening to what was going on in class.

"None of it. I wanted to wait and work beside you. Well, except for my Latin and Greek. Do you want me to leave a stew to simmer while we do our homework, or should I do a stir-fry or something afterwards?"

"Stir-fry with rice please." I began getting my homework out, reluctantly, I'd been hoping he'd done some homework already so I could copy from him, even if that was cheating, but it looked like I'd have to do it the hard way. At least Bakura would help if I asked him to though.

"In that case, unless you object I'll go cut the vegetables and meat up now while you start on your homework." I _wanted_ to object, but I really couldn't, he was so much smarter than me that I knew he'd get his work finished faster, and without him here I'd have to work without his help.

"Go ahead." He nodded and left, quietly once I'd opened my books, leaving his own still in his bag.

"I'll have to go and turn the rice off in twenty minutes or so. I was planning on frying it with the vegetables and meat." I just shrugged at that, it didn't really make a difference to me _what_ he cooked, I'd promised to try and eat it, but stir fry sounded lighter than stew did. He seemed to glance to see what I was working on before he started on his first assignment, the same as mine, and I managed to finish without him helping me just before he left to take care of the rice. I knew better than to take a peek at the second assignment he'd already started, not because he'd be angry, but because he'd get that disappointed look in his eyes. Bakura had explained that as a heccubus it was in his nature to manipulate people, but that didn't stop me being affected by his manipulations.

Even though Bakura had finished long before me he made a point of staying with me, working on the old languages he studied while I did my own work. When I had finished he set off to the kitchen, and I followed him slowly, sitting and watching as he swiftly fried the meat, vegetables and added the rice last. It would taste delicious, what I could eat of it, Bakura's cooking always did. He served our meal, putting more of it on his own plate than on mine - although there was proportionally less meat on his plate than on mine - and we ate in silence, while he looked at me with an oddly contemplative look on his face.

"Yadonushi-sama, should I prepare more meat for you to eat, or is there enough meat in what I prepare now?" Why was he asking that? As I looked down at my plate I realised that I'd finished my meat and I was just picking at the vegetables and rice left by now.

"Just prepare everything for your own preferences." There wasn't much point in his catering to me if it meant he was cooking things he didn't really like and forcing them down to be companionable - although he'd emptied his plate as fast or slowly as I had.

"I am a heccubus, I do not really have preferences in a lot of things, it isn't in my nature to, even if I managed to work past most of my limitations so I could avenge my people and free their souls." And that was just flat out _disturbing_, that he could say it wasn't in his nature to have any preferences, I just couldn't understand how someone so smart could be so submissive in such weird ways. "I'll try to make sure there's some meat at breakfast from now on though."

"Thank you." I couldn't think of anything else to say since he thought he was catering to my desires as well as my needs, and I wasn't so sure that he wasn't, since I'd eaten the meat so fast and especially considering my teeth after we split into our own bodies.

"There...is something else Yadonushi-sama." I couldn't understand why Yami sounded so uncertain, but I nodded at him, trying to look encouraging.

"What is it Bakura?" smiling at him seemed to help too, and it gave me an excuse to slow my eating.

"Would you say eating more has helped you, made you feel better than when you skipped meals through lack of interest or appetite?"

"Yes." I couldn't deny that, or the fact that I'd grown weak faster after my mother and sister died and there was no one around who cared to make me eat.

"Then I want you to consider trying Tai Chi; with its focus on learning how to handle personal energy flows I think it would work well for you, and most practitioners say a Tai Chi session tends to leave them feeling energised." He gave me a quick smile. "I can arrange for a teacher to come to us in the morning for say, half an hour a day. Give it four weeks, say, and if you decide you don't want to keep on with it we can quit."

I wasn't convinced, and it meant I'd have to get up earlier, but I'd have an excuse to go to bed earlier too, and Bakura didn't ask that much of me..."I'll try, for a month at least."

"Thank you."

00()00

I wasn't sure that I _could_ get a Tai Chi teacher to come to us in the mornings, but I'd wanted to convince him to try it and something about his body language had said this would be my only chance. He'd see it as a human form of alternative medicine for chronic fatigue, that and a sort of meditation, but it _did_ have its roots in fighting, in learning how to defend yourself, and so it would do more for him than any other form of meditation could. Still, I'd made the offer, and that meant I was _going_ to find a way to get a Tai Chi master to teach us the basics, and hopefully it would catch Ryou's interest enough that he'd want to continue. I knew that all I could do until Ryou acknowledged what he was, and started acting a bit more like a shinigami, fighting and killing, instead of letting me do it for him, was fight a holding action, keeping him from weakening too fast, never managing to make him any stronger. But as long as I could do that much, buy myself time to convince him to recognise the truth of his nature, I'd be content, I'd force myself to be content, if that was all that I could get. I needed to get the research done to find a local Tai Chi master, and then, once I'd got an appointment to meet with him it would be easy enough for me to convince him to do what I wanted. Him, or her, although I suspected Ryou would prefer a male, and so I'd try for a male first. But I wouldn't have time to do the research myself, and so...

"Seto, might I ask a favour of you?"

"Of course you can Bakura. Just tell me what I can do to help you." I knew how Seto regarded me, as an ally it was important to keep happy, at least if it didn't interfere or adversely affect any of his own affairs, or other alliances. I approved, and what I intended to ask for wouldn't be too onerous for him, especially not since he had resources I didn't - such as an internet connection as opposed to my preferred 'word of mouth' and magical communication methods of letting people know about what I did.

"I need to find a Tai Chi master to teach Ryou the basics of Tai Chi, for half an hour every morning before we go to school. I can pay very well, but I was hoping you'd be willing to find contact details for all the Tai Chi masters who live locally. I'd do it myself, but..." I didn't need to finish that sentence, he'd fill it in with whatever explanation he wanted to believe, and odds were it would be pretty close to the truth.

"I'll set up a search for you and have the contact details delivered...the day after tomorrow. Will that work for you?"

"Yes. Thank you." It would have taken me longer, unless I used magic, and even then it would have been one hell of a drain for me to cast a spell that would give me the contact details rather than just a location. A drain I was _not_ going to risk, not when I was trying to survive on the desire everyone felt around me, and on what I got by bedding six humans and trying to take as little as I could to keep them alive. Not even the day after I'd resorted to killing someone to get what I needed and it would take me days to design the right sort of spell, since I didn't have something appropriate already available, or even close enough to modify easily. Sometimes mundane methods were better than magical ones after all and relying too much on magic could very easily make you lazy. I wasn't offended that Seto put the phone down without bidding me farewell, even if most people wouldn't think that was very good manners nowadays it was a relatively recent concept that the high ranking needed to show the same sort of courtesy to their inferiors that was expected to apply to them. And among demons that concept had never been contemplated, and I wouldn't ever expect it to considering how very strongly our instincts could drive our reactions.

"What was that about?" Ryou sounded sleepy, but he was showing an interest in something, and there was _no way_ I would do anything to discourage that, even if it meant admitting that I'd made my suggestion that he learn Tai Chi on what was almost an impulse.

"I realise that I didn't know the contact details of any Tai Chi masters in the area, so I asked Seto to find out for me. It still won't be a problem for me to convince one to come and teach you. But it might be easier if I can offer an...incentive. Will you object to that?" Such an incentive would likely be a one-off thing, and martial artists were supposed to be much safer to feed on than most humans - safer for them if not for us as much. I wasn't entirely sure what answer I wanted Yadonushi-sama to give, whether I wanted him to show some sign of possessiveness, or to trust my judgement enough to let me decide.

"I don't like the idea that you'd trade your body to get lessons for me. Don't, please. Find another way." I didn't think he'd realised that he'd given me an order with his final sentence, but I found his concern for me comforting in a way, and even more comforting was his momentary anger at the thought of my trading my body for his advantage.

"As you wish Ryou. It just means I'll have to work harder to convince them and probably pay a little more, no great hardship. If I can't get a single master to come every day would you object to having more than one master coming here to teach you?"

"Do whatever you want." And then his indifference and apathy returned. I was disappointed, but I wasn't going to say anything about it.

00()00


	9. Chapter 9

There was something odd in Bakura's eyes, but I wasn't entirely sure what it was the next day as he served up my breakfast of sausages with a fried egg on the side before sitting down to eat his own meal of fruit. That bugged me a bit, but it wasn't anything I could change, and I had to admit it was easier for me to bring myself to eat the meat heavy meal so...

"Thank you for doing this for me Bakura. But...are you alright?" I knew that he was due to go on a 'date' with Honda today, and even though he'd _said_ he could afford to go a bit longer than usual without feeding yesterday I still worried, especially since he'd explained that by restricting himself to our friends he was effectively living on a subsistence diet.

"Oh, yes. Why wouldn't I be?" He frowned then for a moment. "I...know we can't do anything real about you learning Tai Chi until I get a teacher for you, but...will you at least let me teach you the right way to throw a punch before we leave the house?" I didn't see why that was so important to him, I wasn't really in any physical condition to defend myself, even if I needed to, and wasn't that why he'd always made sure I had someone he considered trustworthy with me when he couldn't be? But if it would make him happy...

"All right. Do you think I can learn that quickly though?"

"Oh, yes. I'm sure you can learn _this_ in quarter of an hour at most." My disbelief must have shown, because he hurried to explain. "It's simple enough after all."

And he was right, it was pretty easy to learn, all the details about how to fold my fingers and how to put my weight behind the punch, locking my wrist, seemed to come almost naturally to me. And oddly enough it didn't tire me the way I'd expected it to, and it seemed to calm Yami that I learned this, even though I didn't think I'd ever put it into practice.

"I've taught you the simplest type of punch, there are other types, and other ways to defend yourself, but this was the easiest to teach you." Bakura looked up at me with a smile after I'd mastered what he wanted to teach me, and something in that smile said he wasn't as happy with what I'd learned as he was pretending to be. I was tempted to use our link to figure out what had him upset, but I wasn't sure I really wanted to know what he was keeping from me, since I knew he'd have told me if I could handle it.

"Do you want to teach me some other moves then?" I wasn't really keen on it, the more I knew the more likely it was that I'd get overconfident, and get in over my head if something happened, but at the same time learning how to punch had felt _right_, and it would make Bakura happy.

"If you're willing." And now I could tell that his smile was genuine, it lit up his face in a way it hadn't before.

"Yeah, I'll learn. I feel better now than I did before you started the lesson."

"I'm glad. We'd better set off though." He was right, but at least we didn't have to run, we weren't _that_ late setting off. When we did get to school we went to class as usual, with Atemu asking stupid questions at times, and during the lunch break I could tell that he was torn between staying with me, and going off to do something else once he'd given me my bento.

"_Go_, do whatever it is you need to without me hanging around to hold you back. I'll be fine, I've got my friends here, and I survived seven years before you without someone constantly watching my every move didn't I?"

"Yes Yadonushi-sama." He looked down for a second, then glanced back up at me and smiled. "Thank you. I just need to make arrangements with Honda for tonight, then I can do some more work on making the predators of the school recognise me as one of them." He pulled Honda to one side and they had a quick discussion, one that I could see made Honda more than a little uncomfortable, although something in the way Bakura stood seemed _very_ feminine after a few seconds and that appeared to relax him. I pushed that thought away and opened my bento to see what Bakura'd prepared for me today, finding sushi with more in the way of meat than usual.

"Do you know what the thief meant when he talked about the predators of the school, and making them recognise him as one of them?" Atemu's inquiry set my teeth on edge, especially since he hadn't even waited until Bakura was out of earshot to make it.

"I think the predators are bullies, like the ones you always helped me with mou hitori no boku."

"So he wants to be known as a bully." There was scorn in his voice, and I hated him for it.

"About as much as _you_ wanted Yugi to be known as a bully when you played all those Penalty Games. He wants the bullies to realise he's too dangerous for them to take on so they'll leave him alone." I made sure Atemu could hear as much scorn in my voice as I had in his, and I was rewarded by a sense of pleasure and gratitude through my link with Bakura.

"I won't use Shadow Magic against people who can't even understand what it is, let alone begin to defend themselves from it." Bakura's voice was quiet, and he wasn't looking at any of us as he came back to the group with Honda, but I wondered who had caught the veiled accusation in his words. No one it seemed, and no one had caught the hint of hypocrisy in his words either, since he'd used Shadow Magic to punish people who'd hurt me before.

00()00

"So, where and when do you want me this evening, and is there anything special you want me to wear?" I realised that I'd been a bit too aggressive when I saw how uncomfortable Honda seemed, the way he shifted his weight as he stammered out a reply.

"I...I...you kn-know I li-ike _girls_." I let myself flush faintly, and shifted my body language to something a bit more feminine, making hundreds of tiny changes in my posture and balance to make it look as if my centre of gravity was lower, and to make him think of me as female, glancing up at him from beneath lowered lashes. I ignored the cruel words I could hear from Atemu, and Yugi's response to him.

"Yes, and you'll have the girl you want, but when do you wish to meet her? And where? Do you have any particular wishes for how she is dressed?"

"I'll pick you up at your house at half past five. Dinner followed by a movie, wear whatever you want. I can't afford much more than a fast food place." I could hear Atemu's scornful misstatement of my motivations for convincing the predators that I was one of them over Honda's voice, but that didn't stop me understanding him.

"Thank you." I smiled up at him, hoping to let him see I didn't _care_ what sort of meal he bought.

"About as much as _you_ wanted Yugi to be known as a bully when you played all those Penalty Games. He wants the bullies to realise he's too dangerous for them to take on so they'll leave him alone." I couldn't keep the sheer _gratitude_ that Ryou was defending me from passing through our link, even though he'd defended me before and it wasn't my place to force my feelings on a shinigami. But I didn't want to give him _any_ reason to think me helpless, or he might decide to forbid me to leave his side.

"I won't use Shadow Magic against people who can't even understand what it is, let alone begin to defend themselves from it." I spoke quietly as I returned to the group with Honda, carefully not looking at anyone, and feeling just a little guilty for the veiled accusation, since I _had_ used Shadow Magic against people who couldn't understand what it was before. And I would again, if I had to, what I really meant was that I wouldn't use Shadow Magic against the ignorant people who didn't believe in anything but what they could see and touch for such petty reasons as Atemu expected me to resort to it.

"And since you've got things you need to do now just _go_. You're making everyone uncomfortable." It was hard not to obey him, especially since he was telling me to do something I wanted to do anyway, but...

"You forgot to pick up your bento this morning." I didn't dare explicitly claim that he was breaking his promise, or seeking to evade honouring it, I just handed him the box with three onigiri, specially modified to contain more meat than usual, before leaving obediently. Did I want to show a hint of vulnerability to draw the predators so I could break them? Or look dangerous to warn them off? Both approaches had their advantages...but I'd used the first approach yesterday, and it would be faster. And I was a Child of Desire, not a Battle Bred, I could live up to a reputation for looking deceptively fragile better than to one for being lethal power constantly displayed.

I walked about, nibbling carefully, almost sensually, on one onigiri, letting my sexual appeal and apparently weakness float around me like a fine fragrance in the air as I walked. If that didn't draw the predators nothing would. But I was _always_ aware of how many people were approaching me, how near and whether or not I could avoid any effort to trap me, never walking anywhere that my lack of companions could be used against me. It wasn't something most of my kind could do, or at least it wasn't an inherent ability the way a Battle Bred demon's awareness of the world around them was - as long as it wasn't being repressed, or becoming unreliable due to lack of energy.

"Hello pretty one." I scowled at the big bastard's leer, he looked a lot taller than most Japanese, even taller than most westerners.

"Can't you think of something a bit more original to say?" I made a point of sounding as bored as possible, and focused on my onigiri instead of on him, the two things that would likely provoke him most. It worked, he grabbed the hand holding the onigiri by the wrist and grabbed hold of my chin with his other hand, forcing my face up to look at his, and pulling me up against him.

"You should be nicer to me pretty. I'm sure you don't really want to eat all alone."

"As a matter of fact I _do_." He hadn't bothered to restrain my other hand, so I stiffened my fingers, driving them into the soft area just below his sternum, then using pressure points on each of his arms to make him release me as he staggered just a bit. He'd assumed that because I _looked_ delicate I was weak, and I was more than happy to take advantage of that, even if I couldn't afford to break any bones.

The next bully didn't come after me until I'd finished my second onigiri, and this one had the sense to immobilise both hands, trying to crush my wrists in one hand. But he didn't stand right, and it was easy enough to hook an ankle out from under him, and land with a knee in his groin as he dragged me down on top of him. I only had to deal with one bully after that, and I knew that the next time I'd be facing a group, not single bullies, and that would make things harder.

00()00

"Isn't too much red meat supposed to be bad for you?" I couldn't help but tease Bakura when all he - no, _she_ put in front of me was a rare steak, trying to hide how much more tempting it smelled than the usual stuff he prepared for me did. "After all I heard the Western scientists say that's one reason we live longer than they do, because we eat less red meat, and more fish and vegetables."

"It's bad for normal people yes, but...we aren't precisely normal. _I_ could eat nothing but chocolates and other sweet things and I'd still be perfectly healthy as long as I...filled my other energy requirements," I knew he was being discreet for my sake, Bakura was perfectly comfortable speaking about sex openly, but I wasn't and he knew that, "human food for me is just a way of supplementing those requirements. Yugi...he's a little bit malnourished to be honest, he _always_ channelled some degree of Shadow Magic, it shows, and he didn't realise that, or eat enough to provide the extra energy his body needed. Although I think there's something else that affected his height, something hereditary since his grandfather is short even for this country. And you...among other things the bacteria in your guts are healthier if you eat meat more than vegetables."

I didn't like to think about Bakura's hints about my nature, or why I'd come out of the separation spell with fangs and claws, so I ignored that and focused on what she was wearing, mustering up the energy to leer at her just a little bit. She was dressed perfectly respectably, black close fitting trousers and a black silk blouse just open enough to show a hint of cleavage, but she was so curvaceous that it _seemed_ far more sexual than it should have. Some of the things she said though...

"What do you mean by that?" I didn't understand, and I let it show, no need to hide my ignorance, he'd be happy enough to explain, he always was.

"People have two colonies of bacteria living in their guts. One set live on vegetables and grains that their host eats, the other lives on the meat. Normally the first set are the ones that aid digestion and help the immune system, the second set cause problems, with you both sets help, but the second set more than the first. You also have a less atrophied appendix than most people do, although this isn't on record anywhere since it takes Shadow Magic or exploratory surgery to find that out. And a surgeon would assume your appendix was inflamed if he saw it, he wouldn't realise it was normal for you."

I _really_ hadn't wanted to hear that, I wanted to delude myself that I was normal, not some sort of freak...like Bakura was. But...I had asked.

"Aren't you eating anything?"

"No, Honda informed me that we'll be eating together on our 'date', so I'll just wait. It probably won't be anything fancier than a burger joint, or something similar, but that doesn't matter." She shrugged casually and I realised that Honda and Kaiba were the only two of our friends who were willing to publicly acknowledge their involvement with her. I didn't know what Atemu did with Yami, but I knew for a fact that he made sure to keep it secret, Yugi and Anzu worked around their family to get their pleasure from Bakura without anyone knowing and Jounouchi seemed ashamed of wanting him.

"I think Honda and Kaiba are the best for you, out of your...lovers." I didn't think lovers was the right word, but I couldn't think of anything better. Perhaps I shouldn't be saying this, but..."They treat you the best I mean."

"Thank you." She blushed and shifted her weight from foot to foot, looking down at the table. "I am flattered you care enough about me to consider how well my lovers treat me, but...you are not suggesting I try to limit myself to just those two are you? I _need_ at least six lovers to avoid hurting any one of them."

"No. I don't have the right to stop you doing anything you want to do." She looked surprised to hear me say that, but she smiled after a second. "And if you need to have so many lovers to live I wouldn't want to stop you." I was lying, and I suspected she could tell that; I _wanted_ to stop her, but I knew I couldn't, not without killing her or breaking her heart. Something about her posture...I dismissed it as unimportant when her smile brightened, spreading to her eyes, and showing me that her earlier smile had been feigned for some reason.

"I appreciate your care for me, and my needs Yadonushi-sama. I don't know when I'll be back, so best you do the rest of your homework once you've finished eating. I can check over it in the morning for you."

"You don't have to do that." I hated making that offer, but I couldn't see myself having any other choice, besides I didn't think having him check my homework then would give me enough time to change anything. Bakura usually talked me into doing my homework as soon as possible, where my inclination would be to put it off, but his help always made it a lot easier for me. "There' won't be enough time for me to change anything then anyway."

"You're right." She blushed slightly and fell silent as she waited for me to finish eating.

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I'd just finished stacking the dishes to wash up later - probably when I got in from my 'date' with Honda, but if not the next evening - when he arrived to pick me up. He didn't come in, apparently since we were going to leave immediately he didn't think it was worth it to have to take his shoes off, so I pulled my black sandals on quickly, looking to him for approval. I'd managed to walk in he high heels well enough on the date he took me to an amusement park on, so I didn't think Honda would object to them, but if he did I had picked out another pair of shoes I could wear; not as good for 'dressing up' my current almost plain outfit, but nice enough.

"You look gorgeous." He ran a faintly possessive hand down my side, starting with a light touch on my left breast and ending by resting his hand on my hip as he leaned in to kiss me. I _didn't_ like the hint of possessiveness in his actions, he didn't have the right to be possessive of me, he was only human after all, and it could lead to some problems, although...he was only possessive of _this_ form so it wasn't too big an issue. If he did by some chance become possessive of me regardless of form...no, that wouldn't happen, he was too heterosexual for that, so I smiled at him, letting myself blush and lowered my eyes in calculated modesty.

"I'm glad I please you. This is not inappropriate, is it?" I glanced up at him through my lashes with a flirtatious smile, watching to see his response.

"We're just going to a sushi bar and the cinema, but if you want to dress up for it that's fine. It's not like you're wearing anything flashy after all." He offered me his arm and I laid a hand lightly on his elbow as we walked.

"It's an excuse to dress up." I shrugged carefully, I preferred elegance to being 'flashy' as Honda put it, but I had a feeling he only looked at the surface, and that he'd have reacted exactly the same to my appearance if I was wearing jeans and a cotton blouse, both in black, as opposed to the more expensive and higher quality materials and workmanship of my clothes. Truthfully I was pretty much indifferent to what I wore for the most part, even if I _had_ wanted to look nice until I realised the downside to looking spectacularly beautiful when you didn't have any sort of established position to keep you safe. But I'd decided to buy expensive, well-made clothes, in styles that wouldn't look dated, because they made a far better investment than cheaper clothes, especially with the women's clothes which I only wore for Honda and could probably _keep_ on wearing for decades. "Don't you know that every girl loves a chance to dress up?"

"I guess so. But _Anzu_ doesn't dress up that much."

"How often does she have a chance to?" She loved dressing up when I took her out on our 'dates', and she seemed to go for the whole 'romantic dream' thing, the same way Honda did. They were the only two who insisted on so much of what I considered hunting or 'foreplay': Yugi and Jounouchi were both willing to find a spot and get down to business; Kaiba was interested in intellectual conversation as well, as sex, but even that was secondary to feeding me and having me work on his scars for him; and Atemu just wanted the chance to pin me down and hurt me. I found it a bit funny that Ryou didn't seem to approve of Anzu in the same way he approved of Honda, but it didn't matter, and it wasn't as if I should expect to understand a shinigami anyway.

"Not that often I guess. She's been hung up on Atemu ever since he stopped an escaped criminal hurting her, until she saw _you_ that is." I wondered if Honda realised he sounded jealous when he said that, and I made a point of leaning my breasts against his arm and my head on his should as we walked to distract him a bit. I hadn't connected his desire for me to dress and act like an athletic teen with Anzu before, because this form looked so different to her in so many ways, but the girl _was_ a dancer, with ambitions to study in New York, and he liked it when he saw my inhuman grace showing. I'd dismissed any suspicions about his true desires because he hadn't asked me to change my _appearance_, and because it wouldn't be to my benefit to encourage him to develop an interest in anyone else, in fact it would force me into looking for other sources of energy, and I didn't want to do that if I could avoid it.

"Yadonushi-sama approves of you more than he approves of her if that's any comfort." I spoke without really thinking about the effect my words might have, after all it wasn't as if he held any power over me.

"It isn't." He sounded almost angry, and I frowned, trying to work out why. "What gives him the right to pass judgement on how we help you with your problem?" He started to say something else, probably about how I should be grateful to be getting _any_ help at all from them - which I _was_ and then fell silent. I bit my lip lightly as I tried to work out what to say to calm him down so I'd be able to feed later.

"He just tends to treat me a bit like his sister or something. I like having the sense of family, do you think I don't deserve it" I put a faint whine in my voice and he was quickly reassuring me that he didn't mean that at all.

00()00


End file.
